


Sacrifice

by ARtheBard



Series: JEmily Forever [23]
Category: Criminal Minds (US TV)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-05
Updated: 2017-09-04
Packaged: 2018-12-24 03:08:03
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 16
Words: 23,181
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12003708
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ARtheBard/pseuds/ARtheBard
Summary: The team heads to Galveston, TX to investigate body parts being found floating in the Gulf and found inside sharks. Someone is chopping up bodies and disposing of them in the wild waters. Can they stop the unsub before one of them finds out personally the reason behind the ritual?





	1. Chapter 1

Paul Bryson fights with the fishing line. He has the catch of a lifetime on his hook and he is determined to bring it in close enough to photograph. Twice already the 12’ bull shark had broken the surface of the water. It was a beauty!

“Come on, Paul! Just a little closer!” his brother Terry says, watching the fight from the upper deck of the fishing boat. The plan had been to catch a few tuna or something in the Gulf. Neither man had ever expected to land a shark!

Seat belted into a chair at the back of the boat, Paul has been fighting the beast for nearly 4 hours. Their skipper, hired for the day, had been maneuvering the boat magnificently, keeping the shark close but not letting it get a run under the vessel. Finally it is just a few feet off the stern. Suddenly, the bull makes an unexpected turn, racing right at the boat. Before the skipper can shut down the engines, the tired shark hits one of the spinning propellers. 

“SHIT!” Paul yells. “Oh, fuck…fuck I think we killed it! Man, I didn’t want to kill it!”

They get the shark out from under the boat. It floats on its back, a deep gash in its gills and left fin. They can see it is struggling to survive but is beyond help. Regretfully, the skipper pulls out a .38 and puts a bullet in its head. Their enthusiasm dampened by the killing of the animal the men hook it up enough to bring it to shore. They will get their picture with it and turn it over to local biologists to be studied.

The skipper calls ahead to a friend of his who works for Texas A&M there in Galveston. They are met at the dock so the researcher can do the initial gutting of the shark there, a tarp handy to catch anything he wants to keep to study. After a couple of photos with the shark, the professor steps forward and cuts into the stomach of the animal. 

Expecting to see fish, maybe sea turtles, or other creatures inside, all four men leap back when instead a human arm drops down onto the ground. 

Paul Bryson stares at moment…then throws up all over the pier. His brother walks away, knowing he could be throwing up next. The professor leans close and studies the arm a moment.

“Skip, call the police. That arm wasn’t bitten off.”

The skipper looks at his friend. “What do you mean?”

The professor points to marks on the visible bone at the top of the arm. “Those are saw marks.”

Terry Bryson loses his stomach, too.


	2. Chapter 2

Emily turns on the monitor in the round table room. “Four sharks found in the last week off of Galveston have been found with human remains in them. Instead of it being random shark attacks all the bodies parts found have shown signs of being sawed off with circular saws.”

“Oh, that’s so not what I need to see at 9 a.m.,” Garcia laments.

Emily spares her a sympathetic smile. “Searches by the Coast Guard in the areas where the sharks were caught have turned up several more body parts, including a large section of someone’s torso.”

“A section of torso?” Rossi questions.

“Uh, yeah. The rest had been eaten.”

“Why the hell did I ask?” he mutters.

“Additionally, all along the Gulf coast of Texas various body parts have been found. It wasn’t until this fourth shark incident that a detective in Galveston found all the other cases. Due to the distance involved with all the parts we have been asked to take lead on this to find out who these people are, why they were killed, and who the hell is the twisted shit doing it,” Emily finishes.

“How many victims are we looking at?” Reid asks.

“So far 10 different DNA strands have been identified and are right now running through missing persons databases. We are still working to make sure all the parts are the work of our unsub.”

“How many parts?” Hotch asks.

Emily sighs. “So far…39.”

“Oh, God,” JJ groans. “There could be so many more out there.”

“Truth is, there could be hundreds of victims,” Emily confirms. “Not all parts will be found. Not all victims will be found. Sharks, sea creatures, they will eat the flesh and the bone will just sink. Even if we find this bastard we may never know the true depth of his depravity.”

“And I am guessing there is no way to know how these people died?” Morgan confirms.

Emily shakes her head. “Nope. At least not until a body part with a wound is found.”

The team glances around at each other. This case would be one of their toughest to solve: no murder location, no murder city, no victimology, not all the body parts. It may turn out that all they will ever be able to give police in Texas is a profile. But they owed it to the citizens of Texas to try to do something to stop this madman.

Hotch sighs. “Wheels up in 30. Morgan, a word.” Morgan nods and grabs his crutch. Hotch raises his hand. “We can do it here once everyone is gone.”

The rest of the team heads out. Emily shuts the door as she goes. Hotch looks at his second.

“It’s only been 2 weeks. You sure you’re up for this?”

“You got my clearance from the shrinks. I’m just not allowed in the field.”

Hotch grins. “Morgan, the day one of my profilers can’t pass the shrinks exam is the day I retire. I am asking as your friend. If you want to stay back here to heal up some more we would all understand. We want what’s best for you.”

Morgan sighs. “What’s best for me is to work again. Staying here would be…it just wouldn’t be enough for me, Hotch. I’ll stay in the police station. I swear. I can question anyone you all bring in there, including the initial witnesses. I need to do this for me, Hotch. Please.”

Hotch stares at him, then nods. “If you try to so much as put thumb cuffs on someone you’re Straus’ assistant until you heal.”

Morgan chuckles. “Deal. Thanks, Hotch.”

Hotch nods. “Let’s go.”

Morgan grabs his crutch and heads to his desk. He sees Emily give him a questioning look. He smiles.

“Mind grabbing my bag for me, Prentiss?”

“Getting too lazy to carry it yourself, Morgan?” she says with a wink.

He grins. “Something like that.”

He slips his files into his briefcase and puts it on his shoulder. Emily gladly grabs his go-bag, happy to have her best friend back in the office after 2 weeks recovering from his bullet wounds. They arrive at the elevator at the same time as JJ, who has her go bag, briefcase and large backpack. Morgan frowns.

“What’s the backpack for?”

JJ glares at him. “Profiler exam on Saturday.”

“Ah. Right. How’s the studying going?”

“Oh, just fucking peachy,” she mutters as she gets on the elevator.

Emily looks at Morgan and whispers. “Welcome to my Hell. Can I stay in your hotel room?”

He chuckles and whispers back. “Maybe. As long as she doesn’t threaten to shoot me.”

“Are you two getting on or not?” JJ hollers.

“Coming, dear,” Emily says as she and Morgan step on.

JJ just glares at them both, knowing they are sharing a joke at her expense and hating them for it.

“Do the words ‘cut off for life’ mean  _anything_  to you, Prentiss?” she asks.

Emily wipes the smile off her face. “Yes, ma’am. Sorry, ma’am.”

“Smart ass,” JJ mutters.

Morgan looks at Emily and gives her a look that says it all: That is one scary little woman!

Emily rolls her eyes, her obvious silent answer: You don’t know the half of it.

JJ turns and looks at them both. “Even without words, I heard that. Assholes.”

She storms off the elevator. Emily doesn’t catch up to her until she gets to the Lexus. She gets in the driver’s seat and stares at her wife a moment. JJ’s arms are crossed, her ears are bright red with anger, and her breathing is erratic. Emily reaches out and lays a hand on JJ’s leg.

“Hey…what’s going on? This isn’t just about the test on Saturday.”

JJ stares out the window. Just when Emily thinks she’s not going to get an answer, JJ looks down at the floor.

“I got an email this morning. With my removal from this unit ‘pending’ the Pentagon position is back in play.”

“Oh, Jen,” Emily says, taking one of Jen’s hands. “Your removal isn’t pending. It’s not going to happen.”

“What if it does? What if I have to leave this unit? I don’t want to leave this team. I don’t want to leave Quantico.” She pulls her hand away from Emily. “I don’t want to be a God-damned pencil pusher like Straus! I want to be an FBI agent. That’s what I joined the Bureau for!”

Emily takes a calming breath. “Jennifer, I know that. Hotch knows that. Fuck, even Straus knows that. You are damn good at what you do. There are many departments salivating over the thought of you having to leave the BAU. You will probably get even more job offers before the end of the month. Forget about them. You will pass the test on Saturday because you are a damn good profiler. Hotch, Morgan and Rossi have all done evaluations on your work and all your practical requirements are met. You pass that test, you’re in. It’s just that simple. When you sit for that test you look at the questions like you would any case file that crosses your desk. You know the job, Jen. You’ve known it for years. Now you’re just getting a piece of paper that says you know it.”

JJ slowly looks up at her wife. She sees honesty and confidence in them, not pity or condescension. She slowly smiles. “Thank you. I’m sorry I called you and Morgan assholes.”

Emily smiles. “We deserved it. A little.”

JJ nods. “Yeah, maybe. Still wasn’t very nice.” She takes a deep breath. “Okay, I think I’m ready now.”

Emily nods. “Good. Let’s go catch a bad guy.”

JJ takes Emily’s hand. “Right.”

They lean across the armrest and exchange a quick kiss. Emily then drives them to the airstrip. Since they are the last to arrive, once they are on board the plane leaves.

“Well, another day, another demented unsub,” Reid states.

JJ just grins; no one could have said it better.


	3. Chapter 3

When they land, Morgan and Emily head straight for the police station. JJ and Hotch head for the morgue to see the Galveston collection of body parts. The ones from other cities will be arriving later that day and the next morning. Reid and Rossi head to the docks to speak with the boat captain that had helped bring in the bull shark with the arm the day before.

“Have you ever been deep sea fishing?” Reid asks Rossi.

“Sure. Many times. Lots of fun.”

“Ever caught a shark?”

“Yep. Couple times. Always released it so no idea if it had a person in it or not though. Now I can’t help but wonder.” Reid chuckles. “You ever been?”

“Nope. Never even fished in a lake or river. Just never saw the reason for fishing if I can just buy a fish at the store to eat.”

Rossi glances at him. “It’s more than just fishing to eat. It’s a challenge. You versus nature!”

“Rossi, my childhood was spent me versus the world and I always lost. Why would I want to start a fight I might lose again?”

Rossi laughs. “Touché, kid. Well, if you ever want to try it, let me know. I’d be happy to take you.”

Reid smiles at the sincere offer. “Thanks. I…I will.”

When they arrive at the docks, they quickly locate the “Drunk Seaman.”

“Odd name for a boat,” Reid notes. “Wouldn’t exactly make me confident in the captain.”

“Kid, you should see some of the names out there. Most people don’t even pay attention to the names.”

Reid chuckles. “Most people aren’t profilers.”

“True,” Rossi agrees with a chuckle. He calls out to the man changing out spools on a huge fishing rod. “Ahoy, Captain. Permission to board?”

The man turns and grins. “Depends. You keep talking that old pirate crap at me and you won’t be welcome.”

Rossi grins. “Understood. I’m SSA David Rossi, this is SSA Dr. Spencer Reid with the FBI. We’re here about the catch you made yesterday.”

The tanned man visibly pales and sits down on the side of his boat. “Never in my life have I seen something like that. I mean, I know sharks have been known to take a bite or two out of surfers but it was an entire damn arm. Cut off a body with a saw. What the hell, you know?”

Rossi nods. “We know. Mind if we talk to you a bit about it?”

The skipper shrugs. “Not sure how much I can tell you. Truth is, it was a fluke move by the shark that even got the bastard to shore. He made as sudden run at the boat and hit a propeller. Had to kill him to put him out of his misery. I swear, Agents, I respect the kings of the sea. Catch and release on them. That’s my policy. I don’t care how much people offer me. That’s why I called my friend at A&M instead of offering the carcass to my customers. Heck, even they were upset by the death of the bull. But when Jimmy cut it open and that arm came out…hell…I thought a poor bastard lost his arm. When Jimmy said it was sawed off I just…shit…who the hell does shit like that off Texas? I mean, New York or New Jersey you maybe think mafia. But Texas?” his voice trails off.

Reid steps forward. “Have you talked to any other boat captains that maybe saw body parts floating out there?”

The man shakes his head. “No. But then again, you see stuff floating all the time. You don’t think ‘Hey, I wonder if that’s a body part’. You pretty much just ignore it unless you think it could draw in what you’re fishing for. I try to avoid dead fish and stuff because I don’t want to catch sharks. Truth is, maybe I saw people floating out there and never knew it. I’m just not sure I can help you.”

Rossi pats the man on the shoulder. “We thank you for your time. And next time you go out, if you see anything unusual out there call the Coast Guard. They will be on alert now for any potential body parts.”

He nods. “Sure. Okay. Damnedest fucking thing I’ve ever seen,” he says, his eyes obviously seeing the scene from the evening before once more.

Rossi and Reid head to the SUV. They sit for a minute. Reid looks at Rossi.

“We’re going to have to go out there, aren’t we?”

Rossi nods and looks at the younger agent. “You don’t like the ocean?”

Reid gives a half grin. “I grew up in Vegas. It’s not like I was around the ocean much. And if you’d like I can run you down the stats on people killed in freak ocean accidents, by tidal waves, by sharks, by—”

“Enough, smart boy. I get it. No stats, please. I’d rather go out there blissfully ignorant.”

Reid grins as they head towards the police station.

* * *

 

Morgues never smell pleasant. There is the smell of antiseptic cleaners, blood, and, no matter how well vented, death. But today the smell is even worse. Body parts decomposed in the ocean and in the guts of sharks have a horrible stench. JJ looks at Hotch.

“Please tell me we can shower before going to the precinct?”

Hotch, normally not affected by morgues, nods. “Definitely.”

The ME joins them after a few minutes. “Hi. Dr. Thomas Goran. Got a sick puppy polluting the Gulf,” he tells them.

“We’ve got a sick puppy dismembering people first,” JJ points out.

He nods. “True. Let’s see, here’s what I can tell you: all the cuts seem to be made by the same type of saw. The blade is either replaced each time, which wouldn’t be a surprise, or the whole saw is replaced.”

“Why would it not be surprising for the saw to be replaced each time?” JJ asks.

“Looks like it is actually a Dremel. That blade would maybe make it through one body. Most likely you’re looking at 2 blades per body depending on the size of the person getting dismembered.” JJ nods in understanding. “On the parts I have, I can’t tell you what killed them. What I can tell you is they were cut post-mortem and around the time of death.”

“Can you tell how long they were in the water?” Hotch asks.

“You have to understand, most ocean animals are like vultures. They will feed on what’s available. Everything from guppies to sharks have fed on these body parts. Even seagulls have left their marks on a few. The best I can say is some have been out there a few hours and some a few days. Exact times are just impossible due to the level of destruction from predators, weather and the salt water.”

Hotch sighs. “I was afraid of that. Where are we on identifying any of them?”

“I was able to find tattoos on a few pieces. We’re running those through missing persons reports. And of course DNA is out there but it’s only helpful if it’s in a database somewhere.”

“What about fingerprints?” JJ asks.

The doctor walks over to the 4 hands that have been collected. “Unfortunately the fingertips are easiest to feed on.”

He lifts one up, showing the agents that the fingers had all been chewed off by various predators. JJ visibly blanches and spins away, trying to regain control of her stomach. Even Hotch has to fight the gag reflex. He finally collects himself.

“Is there…” he takes a quick breath. “Is there anything else you can tell us to help in the investigation?”

“Only what you already know: whoever did this is one sick fucker.”

The agents thank him and leave with his promise to call if anything comes to light from his runs or from the new parts as they arrive. Out in the SUV both agents are taking deep gulps of air.

“I just feel like it’s all over me,” JJ finally says.

Hotch nods. “Me, too. That had to be the worst I’ve ever seen. If we have to go back it will be Reid and Rossi’s turn.”

“Deal. But don’t send Emily. It will send her into a round of morning sickness that may not end.”

Hotch chuckles. “Good point. Let’s swing by the hotel and change. And I want to drop my suit off to be dry cleaned.”

“I second both those motions,” JJ agrees.

* * *

 

At the police station, Emily and Morgan start setting up maps showing where parts were found. They stare at them, realizing they really aren’t much help. Emily shrugs.

“Maybe we can find current patterns that will give us an idea if they could have been dropped in the same place and ended up in all those areas.”

Morgan nods. “Maybe. Truth is I’m not sure what the hell we can do here. We have body parts from multiple victims, no crime scenes, not even any hits on missing persons yet. What the hell do we profile?”

Emily turns and stares at him. “You saying I don’t know how to pick a BAU case?”

He rolls his eyes. “No, I’m not saying that. Obviously there is a sick fuck out there but how do we find him?”

“We profile the parts just like profiling bodies. We get an idea of what they are doing and who they are doing it to. Then we warn the public.”

“Warn them to what, Prentiss? Avoid someone who might want to kill them and toss their body parts in the Gulf? Great. That will be really helpful.”

Emily stares at him. “What the fuck is with you, Derek? Ever since I got back you’ve been treating me like shit when cases come up. Working out, the shooting range, paperwork we’re fine. But whenever we have to talk cases you act like I’m an idiot or like you can’t trust me. Do you think I can’t do the job?”

Morgan is on the defensive and hates it. He pushes back. “I’m not sure what job you  _can_  do! Seems like you have a lot of skills we don’t know crap about. Tell me, how long did it take you to learn how to bed a suspect?”

Emily’s face flares red. It takes all the self-control she has not to punch her (former?) best friend. “Go to fucking hell, Morgan,” she whispers furiously.

She turns and storms out of the room. Morgan stares at the floor. Why the hell had he said that? What the hell drove him to take his frustration with being out of the field out on Emily? Sure he had a lot of issues with her time as Lauren Reynolds but this was not the time or place to deal with them. He grabs his crutch and heads out after his friend. He finds her outside leaning against their Tahoe.

“I’m sorry, Emily. That was…that was a stupid, idiotic, low-blow.”

“Maybe. But it came out pretty easily meaning you really feel that way,” she points out, refusing to meet his eyes. “Go ahead and call me a whore if it will make you feel better. Go ahead and tell me what an asshole I am for not talking to you about…about my past. Yell at me, cuss me out, do something. I’m tired of us not dealing with this.”

Morgan runs a hand down his face. “Do I have a lot of issues about your time with Interpol? Hell yeah. But, Emily, I don’t think you’re a whore or an asshole. I just don’t understand why you did what you did. And until I do…I just…I can’t reconcile who you were with who you are. Emily, you are my best friend and I suddenly feel like I hardly know you. I feel…lost around you. And I fucking hate that.”

Emily looks up, tears in her eyes. “I hate it, too. But you are the only one who hasn’t talked to me about that time. I thought…I  _hoped_   you just understood it was the job. Someone had to stop Valhalla. Other agents had gotten to Doyle and ended up dead. In my own way, I hoped the same would happen to me. It wasn’t until I met Declan and realized who he was that I suddenly felt I had something to live for. I felt like…like I had been sent to save that little boy from a life of murder and terrorism. It was like God had finally answered my questions about my purpose in life. I was no longer living to piss of my parents. I was living to make the world a better place for Declan. He opened my heart to love I had hidden from. He made me who I am today.”

She stands and stares Morgan in the eyes. “When Ian took me, I tried…tried to give myself to him again; tried to become Lauren. I couldn’t, Derek. Because even though part of her will always be in me, the part of me you know, and I’d like to think love, is greater. I can’t be Lauren without giving up Emily. And you and Jen and the whole team have proven to me that Emily is worth keeping around.”

Morgan stares at her, hating that he had put those tears on her face. He tentatively reaches out to her. “Emily, you are definitely worth keeping around. I love you. And I hate that you were ever put in the position that you had to…to do what you did with Doyle. And I am so sorry I just made you feel like I didn’t respect you. You did a job. You did it well. It was Easter that put you in the position to get taken by that bastard. And even if you had…you know…with him…I’d still respect you and love you. I just wish you could have told me. I have told you before and I’ll tell you again: I will always have your back. With anything.”

Emily smiles. “Yeah?”

He nods. “Yeah. Maybe someday we can sit down over a beer and you can tell me everything. Because I know you’d rather talk to me than some shrink about things.”

Emily chuckles. “Actually, she’s not so bad. In fact…maybe…someday, you can come and we can hash it all out with her. Worked for me and Jen.”

Morgan nods. “Yeah, maybe we can do that. I don’t plan on losing my best friend, Emily Prentiss. So if talking to a shrink is what it takes let’s do it. I guess…I probably have a few more skeletons in my closet we could beat up, too.”

Emily nods. “Okay.” She sighs. “A lot of what happened back then is classified. It was to protect me and my team. With most of them gone…well…maybe I am finally free to get it all off my chest. I think I’d rather do that with you before Jen if you’re up for it. Maybe once you’re all better. That way you can try to kick my ass if you think it needs it.”

Morgan raises an eyebrow. “ _Try_   to kick your ass?”

Emily shrugs. “Well, I can still take your butt. Even pregnant.”

Morgan laughs. “Okay, Princess, remember that. You pop out my niece or nephew, recover for a couple months, and we’ll see who can kick whose ass.”

She extends her hand. “Deal.”

He takes it and shakes it…then pulls her into a hug. “I really do love you, Emily.”

“I love you, too, Morgan.”

After a couple of minutes they head back inside to try to figure out what information can be gleaned from the maps showing where the body parts were recovered.


	4. Chapter 4

Morgan and Emily had gotten maps of tidal patterns and mapped out where the various body parts have been found. With so few parts it was hard to be sure where they were originally dumped but they have a bit of an idea.

Emily points, “The unsub is tracking south.”

Morgan nods. “Yep. You know, he has to have his own boat. No way you can charter a boat and toss body parts off of it without someone noticing.”

“True. We need to get Garcia looking for someone renting a spot nightly at local docks.”

Morgan whips out his cell phone. “I got her. You keep doing your weird Reid-like nerd mind thing and see if you can discern any other patterns we may have missed.”

Emily grins at him. “I should probably be offended by that but I’ll—”

“Uh, Agents?”

Emily turns. “Yes, Sheriff Pines?”

“Just got a call from the Coast Guard. Fishing charter found more parts. They are on their way in with them.”

Emily sighs. “Okay. Do you know where on these maps they were located?”

He walks over and circles an area with his finger. “Around here. Coasties will have the exact coordinates in their paperwork.”

Emily nods. “Of course. But an idea for now is helpful. Thank you.”

As the Sheriff leaves Hotch and JJ come in, both with their hair still wet and new clothes on. Emily grins.

“Something you two kids want to tell us?”

JJ rolls her eyes. “Had to get the morgue smell off of us and our clothes. We went by the hotel and luckily Hotch’s room was available so we could both strip down and jump in the shower.”

Emily’s grin widens as JJ blushes, realizing what she said sounds like. Morgan busts out laughing. Hotch looks at JJ, a blush on his cheeks, too.

“Agent Jareau, you are no longer allowed to speak without permission,” he says dryly.

JJ nods. “Yes, sir. Might be safest that way.”

Emily can’t help herself. “Well, I’ve been rooting for you two kids. Congrats!”

“So not funny, Prentiss,” JJ mumbles as she goes to plug in her computer.

Emily looks at Hotch. “Sheriff Pines just let us know more parts are on their way to the morgue. Charter found them and alerted the Coast Guard.” She gestures to the map. “Looks to be in the same general area where the bull shark was caught.”

“Good. Maybe they will be from the same person and we can start to get a victim profile.”

Morgan steps towards them. “Baby Girl, you’re on speaker. Guys, listen to this.”

“Okay, so Morgan and Emily wanted me to check on people renting boat slips. Problem is, every dock is managed by a different company. And by dock, I literally mean in one port their can be multiple dock masters.” She takes a deep breath before continuing. “Additionally, a major problem in any port is slip squatting. Someone just pulls in and docks for the night in an empty reserved slip. Or if someone is going to be gone a while, they can sublet the slip. Essentially, I can search and search but come up with bupkiss. Now, if you can find me a boat name, I can search where it has registered legally, but again if it’s a squatter or a sublet we won’t know unless they got a ticket.”

“Shit,” Emily states.

“Sorry, Super Friends,” Garcia apologizes.

“Don’t fret, Baby Girl, we know you’ll come through for us when we have more to give you,” Morgan assures her.

“Aww, thanks, Darling. You always make me smile. Garcia out.”

Reid and Rossi come in and add their report on their talk with the captain to the gathered intel. Rossi sighs.

“Hotch, the Gulf is huge. The chances of catching this guy in the act are slim to none. But it wouldn’t hurt to go out there specifically to look for parts instead of just hoping someone comes across some.”

Hotch nods. “I agree. Morgan, you can’t go out there. Prentiss, no chance with your morning sickness. Reid…why do I feel you’d be worse than Prentiss?” Reid just grins. “Jayje, how do you feel about the ocean?”

JJ stares at him. “There are two things in the ocean, Hotch: sharks and bait. If you ain’t the shark, you’re the bait.”

Hotch chuckles. “Well, Dave, how would you feel about a day on the Gulf with me?”

Rossi shrugs. “Eh, could be worse people to go with.”

Hotch grins. “Good. Set it up.”

JJ’s phone rings and she steps to the corner to answer it. After a few minutes she turns to those in the room.

“Guys, the ME got hits back on three of the tattoos he found. They are all surfer related.”

“Surfers? That would definitely be a specific demographic,” Emily notes.

“Yeah. And the DNA markers are all back. All the parts he has so far are male.”

“Male…male surfers…” Emily mutters.

Hotch looks at her. “What is it, Prentiss?”

Emily shrugs. “Well, crazy thought just flashed through my head…could our unsub be a woman? Women dismember to make it easy to get rid of bodies, if she actually does the dismembering out at sea it would be easy to clean up. Just throw bucketfuls of water on the deck until it’s clean.”

“And that would chum the waters, too, drawing in predators to the body parts,” Rossi notes.

The team mulls over that theory a moment. JJ finally shakes her head. “But how would she overpower him?”

Emily grins at her. “Asks the woman who can bring a man to his knees with a smile.”

The room chuckles as JJ blushes. “Smart ass. What I’m saying is how is she getting them on her boat? Based on the parts we saw the guys would be kinda big. Maybe Morgan big.”

“She’s getting them on the boat while they are still alive,” Reid answers. “She’s probably pretty, finds them at a bar, lures them back and kills them.”

Hotch slowly nods. “It’s a good theory. Unfortunately it’s just that until we have more proof. Get the tattoos to Garcia. See if she can track where they originated.”

The team spends the next two hours pouring over missing persons reports and reports of any body parts that had been found in Texas. Morgan notices Emily staring at the map.

“Something catch your eye, nerd girl?” he teases.

“Yeah…I think so.” She pulls out her phone and calls Quantico. “Garcia, can you check records in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida for like crimes? Or rather similar body part discoveries?”

“Uh, sure. May take a bit since it’s multiple states but I can check.”

“Thanks. Let me know when you have something.”

“Of course, Emster.”

Emily stares at the map a second more then moves to her lap top. She pulls up a weather website. She searches archived maps of weather patterns. She then moves back to the map.

“She kills when storms drive her to shore,” she mutters.

Morgan and Hotch move towards her. “What are you seeing, Prentiss?” Hotch presses.

“I won’t know for sure until Garcia gets back to me and I can expand my search but…but I think she kills when she heads to shore due to storms. That’s what was bothering me earlier. I checked the weather down here before we left, wondering if I needed to swap out anything in my go bag for the extra’s I keep in JJ’s office.”

Everyone exchanges a look at her slip of using her wife’s initials instead of her name. This train of thought she’s working in her mind is obviously taking most of her attention. She slowly shakes her head.

“Still…something…what am I missing?”

Hotch lays a hand on her shoulder. “Prentiss, we still have a lot of missing pieces to this case. Sleep on it. When something is that close to the edge of your mind I trust that you just need sleep or another clue to bring it forward.”

Emily sighs. “Right. Okay. Shit, it’s right there, Hotch.”

“Rossi and I will be out in the Gulf tomorrow. Our cells probably won’t work but you’ll have the boat contact information if you get something that could help us.”

Emily nods. “Right. Okay.”

Hotch just shakes his head. When Emily repeats one word answers he knows her mind is running through scenarios but is tired. He looks at the team.

“Since Emily’s getting so talkative let’s call it a night.” She glances at him, then shakes her head. “You all get back here by 8 unless we get a lead sooner. Time to start narrowing down some of these theories.”

* * *

 

Back at the hotel, Emily can’t turn her mind off. She is sure the weather patterns are the key to figuring out the next dump site. She pulls up the Weather Channel on her computer again while JJ gets ready for bed. She sees a storm is brewing off Port Aransas.

“If I’m right, she’ll dump someone there next. How do I convince Hotch and the Coast Guard of this?” she mumbles to herself.

JJ walks out of the bathroom and rolls her eyes. “Em, baby, you know you have to turn it off for a while.”

Emily sits back in her chair. “I can’t, JJ. Not when I feel like we’re waiting to—Hey!”

JJ had walked over and dropped the screen on the laptop. She is glaring at her wife. “That’s two times in the last hour that you have called me JJ. And, yes, the team noticed, too. Your mind is too wound up, Em. You need to shut it down for a while.”

Emily frowns. “I…I called you JJ?”

“Twice,” JJ confirms with irritation.

Emily sighs and pulls her wife onto her lap. “I’m sorry. I guess…I made the call to bring us into this, Jen. What if it’s a wild goose chase? What if we can’t do any good here and some other city suffers for it?”

“Em, you think I don’t ask myself the same question every time I choose a case? Emily, you are a profiler. A lot of that is instinct. This case clicked something within you. You told Hotch and it clicked for him, too. We’ll do what we can here. Sometimes we solve the case, sometime we don’t. But we’ll at least try.” JJ stares into her wife’s eyes. “What else is going on in that head of yours?”

Emily looks away. “Morgan and I finally had it out.”

“About Doyle?”

Emily shrugs. “More about me and Lauren, really. But yeah I guess about Doyle, too. I…I asked if he wanted to see the doc with me. He said yeah. Maybe we can say more about what we need to air out. He’s the best friend I ever had, Jen. We’re going to fix this crack in our friendship. We have to,” she reiterates with desperation.

JJ smiles and kisses Emily’s forehead. “I’m sure you will, baby. You two both have your share of secrets. Maybe Doc can help you both come clean about everything and help you start fresh.”

“I hope so. I really, really hope so.”

JJ stands and pulls Emily up. “Come on. Get ready for bed. I’ll order us a couple of hot fudge sundaes, we’ll watch something silly on TV and then get a good night’s sleep.”

Emily nods and pulls JJ into a hug. “Sounds perfect. I love you, Jen. Sorry about the ‘JJ’ thing.”

JJ grins and kisses Emily. “You’re forgiven…in exchange for a back massage.”

“A back massage? Didn’t you get that from Hotch when you two showered together?”

JJ slaps her wife’s arm as Emily laughs. “You are evil, Emily Prentiss. Absolutely evil.”

* * *

 

Across town, Buffy Nitodu bats her eyes at the blonde man at the bar. “Come on…surely you remember me?”

He looks her up and down. “Trust me, baby, I’d remember you.”

She runs her hand up his arm. “Maybe we need to go somewhere private so I can remind you who I am?”

He quickly finishes the rest of his beer. “Who am I to argue with a pretty lady?”

She smiles coyly and they head out together. She convinces him to ride in her car to her boat.

By sunrise, she is dropping his body parts into the ocean, a sacrifice to the sea gods to keep her protected when she surfs and sails. It has worked since she started the ritual two years ago. She runs her hand over the scars on her arm. She hadn’t lost it to the shark. She knew he bit her to remind her to show her appreciation to the aquatic world and the gods that protect the sea.

And now she does so…regularly. She smiles as the first fish start to bite at the floating parts.

“Enjoy, my friends. I will see you again soon.”

She turns her boat back towards shore. He is a big man; a sizable offering. It would be a good day for surfing. Between the sacrifice and the approaching storm, life was definitely looking good for Buffy.


	5. Chapter 5

When the four land-based agents arrive at the precinct the next morning they see the police are processing at least 30 guys who are obviously surfers.

“What the hell?” Morgan asks.

JJ rolls her eyes. “Oh, hell. I’ve seen this before. You all go on to the conference room. Time for me to step into Media Liaison shoes again and kick some local tail.”

“Damn you’re sexy when you get pissed,” Emily says.

JJ rolls her eyes and heads off to see the sheriff. She sees him signing a form for one of his deputies. “Sheriff Pines? What the hell is going on?”

He gestures to the various men under arrest. “I took a look at your findings last night. Figured I’d save you some time and round up some of the surfers in the area with records. If that bastard killing people is a surfer he’s probably in this room.”

JJ crosses her arms across her chest. “Let them go, Sheriff. The unsub is not in this room. I promise you that. The information you saw is incomplete and mostly speculation. But one thing I can tell you is the unsub isn’t local. You jumped the gun, Sheriff. Let them go before you get sued for wrongful imprisonment.”

He steps into JJ’s personal space, using is 6’1” of height to try to intimidate her. “Now look here, missy, don’t tell me—”

She steps even closer to him. “It’s AGENT Jareau, not ‘missy’. Release these men unless you have a legitimate reason to hold them or I will make sure the press knows you’re more concerned with appearances than stopping a killer.”

From the conference room, the other agents watch the tense showdown. Reid grins.

“He won’t know what hit him if he really pisses her off.”

Emily grins. “True. And as stressed as she’s been with her test coming up she might enjoy the stress relief of pounding him into the ground.”

Pines stares at JJ then finally steps back. “Fine. But if I find out any of these bastards is the unsub I’ll have your badge.”

JJ rolls her eyes. “Whatever. And make sure you and your deputies stay out of the conference room so we don’t have shit like this again. This is the kind of action that can actually drive the unsub underground.” She takes a deep breath. When she speaks her voice is calmer. “If you want to be the sheriff that stops this killer, let us do our job. We’ll tell you when and who to bring in. Okay?”

Pines’ shoulders slump. “Okay. Please tell me you’ll have something for us soon?”

JJ nods. “We hope so. Our analyst completed some runs for us. It should help us narrow down a profile. We’re getting ready to call her now.”

“Fine. Let me know what you need from us.” He shifts uncomfortably. “And, uh, I’m sorry, Agent Jareau, about all this and, uh, the ‘missy’ comment.” He gives her a grin. “My wife would have slapped me for that one.”

JJ chuckles. “Trust me. I was tempted.”

His laughter follows her back to the conference room. She walks in and shuts the door.

“So, that was $20 to Reid for the stare down win,” Emily states handing him money. She reaches towards Morgan. “But $10 from you for the apology.”

“Well, Pretty Boy owes me $5 for her stepping into his space,” Morgan points out as he hands Emily the bill.

“But you owe me $10 for her getting the surfers released,” Reid retorts, his palm out for the money.

Emily nods. “That’s true, Morgan. And I—”

JJ laughs. “Okay, smartasses, put your money away.”

The other three laugh. “Sorry, JJ. Probably should have resisted but we just couldn’t,” Reid says.

“Yeah, Blondie, loved watching you take on the Jolly Green Giant out there,” Morgan says.

“Sexy as fucking hell,” Emily states, getting nods from the two guys.

JJ is blushing bright red. “Guys. Garcia. Now. Call.”

They chuckle at her embarrassment and call Garcia.

“Baby Girl, tell me something good,” Morgan says when she answers.

“I’m very flexible,” she tells him.

Everyone laughs. Morgan shakes his head. “You’re nuts, Garcia. How about something good that’s case related?”

“Oh, okay, spoil sport. So, overnight I ran a couple programs to check out Em’s theory about like crimes and storms. She’s hitting on all cylinders with that one, which is good. What is bad is that I have found body parts throughout the Gulf over the last 2 years that show the same signs of dismemberment by saw, dremel, and ax. Each was found within a day or two of a storm hitting the area.”

“So they are found before storms hit?” Emily confirms.

“Yep.”

“An offering,” Emily mumbles.

“Uh, sorry, didn’t catch that,” Garcia says.

“She said an offering,” Reid states. “A lot of cultures, especially those that live by the ocean, will make sacrifices to the gods to help them make it through storms. Maybe our unsub is doing the same kind of ritual to protect himself or herself from the upcoming storm.”

“Then we’re back to the theory that the unsub is on a boat. Garcia, can you send us all the points where bodies were found?” Morgan asks.

“Already in your inbox,” she tells him. “There is one other thing you should know, all genetic markers point to male victims.”

Emily sighs. “Giving more credence to a woman unsub.”

“Why is that?” JJ asks, intrigued by how sure Emily is.

“A man would sacrifice a beautiful, virginal woman. A woman would sacrifice a strong, virile man,” she states confidently.

Reid frowns. “Maybe. Or maybe she sacrifices a man because he is an archetypical protector.”

Emily nods. “Could be. Damn it. We need to know more about the bodies. But evidence is washed off by the ocean and not enough parts of one body has been found for comparisons sake.”

“Not to mention every tuna in the sea has enjoyed people stew for breakfast, lunch and dinner,” Garcia notes.

That image hits Emily wrong…since she’s mostly living on soup right now. “Oh, shit!” She covers her mouth and races out of the room.

“Shit! Garcia, no food references around the pregnant woman!” JJ states, as she gets up to follow her wife.

“Oops. Sorry!” she says.

“They are already gone, Baby Girl. Did you get the ME’s email with the tattoo pics in them?”

“Yes, I did. And before you ask, I contacted all the ME’s along the Gulf to get them to send me any tattoos they were able to find.”

“Good. Get those in all our databases. Let’s see if we can turn some of these John Does into real names,” Morgan tells her.

“Got it, God of Chocolate Thunder. Garcia out!”

Reid heads out to buy a map of the whole Gulf area. Morgan starts reading through missing persons files that include notations of tattoos, hoping to get at least one name for their board.

In the bathroom, JJ holds Emily’s hair back as the brunette loses her breakfast. Finally she sits back.

“Shit, Jen. When is this crap gonna end? Now I can’t even stomach the thought of soup. I am so screwed.”

JJ rubs her wife’s neck. “I don’t know when it will end, sweetheart. I wish I did. Do you need to go back and lay down for a while?”

“No. No, I’ll be fine. I’ll—” She starts to stand but a wave of dizziness hits and she slumps back down into JJ’s legs. “Oh, crap.”

JJ frowns and lays her fingers on the pulse point on Emily’s neck. “Baby, your heart is racing. I am now ordering you back to the hotel. And before you argue, yes you can come back later when your heart rate and blood pressure are back down. Em, it’s not just for you. It’s for Rocky.”

Emily really wants to argue but can’t. She slowly nods. “Okay. Fine. For Rocky.”

JJ slips her arms under Emily’s and helps her up. Emily gets dizzy again. “Em, I’m driving you. And I’m checking your blood pressure when we get there. If it’s too high you’re going to the hospital. No arguments.”

Emily nods her head. “Right. Sure. Okay. Let’s just hurry, okay?”

JJ supports Emily’s weight as they head outside and get in the other SUV. JJ is extremely happy they had opted for 3 vehicles instead of just 2. She calls Morgan and lets him know what’s going on, asking that Reid pick her up at the hotel so Emily will have a vehicle. She gets her inside and settled into bed.

“Let me get the cuff,” JJ says.

Emily just nods, hating how her body and head feel at the moment. JJ quickly checks Emily’s blood pressure and sees it’s very high.

“Honey, it’s not good. Not so bad I want to take you to the hospital but not good. Do you want me to get you anything?”

Emily shakes her head. “No. Uh, maybe some ice?”

JJ nods, grabs the ice bucket and heads to the door. There is a knock just before she gets there. She opens it to find Reid with a bag.

“Hi. I, uh, brought some ginger ale and saltines.” He looks beyond JJ to Emily. He smiles. “And a Butterfinger,” he tells her, remembering the missing one from the last case.

Emily smiles at him. “My hero.”

JJ pats his arm and heads out to get the ice. Reid walks over and sets his gifts where Emily can reach them on the nightstand.

“Can I get you anything else, Em?”

She shakes her head. “No. Thanks, Reid. I really appreciate you thinking to get these things for me.”

He shrugs. “I hate being the only nerd in the room. I need you to get better.”

Emily chuckles and takes his hand. “I’ll try to be there for you in a couple of hours.”

He nods. “Good. But if you can’t, no worries. I just want you and Rocky to be okay.”

“Thanks. Me, too.”

JJ returns with the ice. Reid steps to the door so the women can say goodbye.

“Em, if you need anything, call us. Okay?”

“I will, Jen. I promise. I can’t be a hardhead and protect Rocky. I get that. I swear.”

JJ smiles. “Good. I love you. Both of you.”

Emily smiles. “We love you, too.”

The two share a kiss then JJ heads towards the door. “Uh, Jen?”

“Yes?”

“Can you turn the AC down to about 60?”

JJ chuckles. “Sure thing. Feel better, baby,” she says as she turns the AC back.

Out in the hallway, Reid looks at her. “Doesn’t she usually prefer to keep the room warm?”

JJ laughs. “Yep. But ever since she got pregnant I’ve had to wear snow suits to bed.”

Reid grimaces. “Yikes. Will it be that way the whole time?”

“No clue. Her body is going through all sorts of changes. When I was pregnant with Henry I either wanted it 100 degrees or 32 degrees. My temperature was all over. Emily seems to permanently be hot. Makes it a little easier on me than on her.”

“How’s that?”

JJ chuckles. “Who do you think was the one who had to keep getting up and adjusting the room temperatures? She even bought a remote control fan for each side of the bed so if I wanted it hot she could cool down and if I wanted it cold she could turn one on me.”

“Aw, that’s sweet. She took really good care of you.”

JJ nods. “Yep. Still does.”

The two head back to the precinct to help Morgan go through the missing person files.


	6. Chapter 6

“Morgan,” the African American profiler answers his cell phone.

“Agent Morgan, this is Lieutenant Danforth of the Coast Guard. We were told to contact you if we found more body parts. Had a pleasure boat find a bunch floating about a mile off Port Aransas. Think they could be what you all are looking for?”

Morgan sighs. “Most likely. Have you all sent a boat out to retrieve them?” There is a long pause. “Lieutenant Danforth?”

“I’m here. Uh, shouldn’t you all get them? You know, so you can see the scene and all?”

Morgan rubs his face. “ _Stupid idiot. Just admit you all don’t want to deal with them_ ,” he thinks to himself. Out loud he says, “If you all can bring them in with the coordinates of where they were found that will help us. And if you could get permission to get them to the ME in Galveston that would be even better. “

The Lieutenant takes a deep breath. “Uh, well, okay. I’ll be in touch when we have the, um, parts on their way to the medical examiner.”

“Thank you, sir. Appreciate the call,” Morgan says as he clicks off.

He stands and walks over to the map. That morning, before Garcia had sickened her, Emily had made a circle with a pencil near Port Aransas. She had correctly predicted that would be the next dumping ground due to an incoming storm.

“Nice job, Em,” he says to the map. A moment later Reid comes in with a fresh cup of coffee. “Reid, do you have the contact info for Hotch and Rossi?”

“Yeah, it’s here,” he taps his head.

Morgan chuckles. “Well, get it out of there and contact their boat.” He tells Reid about the call from Danforth.

Reid smiles. “Emily got it right.”

“Yep.”

Reid nods. “She’s…she’s really getting better, isn’t she? She’s going to be okay.”

Morgan nods. “Of course she is. She’s Emily,” he says with a grin. Garcia’s simple statement in Alaska had become the team’s rallying cry as they watched her face off with Straus just before the New Year and now again as she recovers mentally from her time with Doyle. But never had Morgan believed it more than now since he was truly starting to mend his relationship with his friend.

JJ comes bustling in just then. “Guys, check this out.” She turns on the local news and closes the conference room door.

“…sources at the police department say the killer is a local surfer. The police questioned several possible suspects this morning and are closing in on the murderer. Said one local deputy, ‘We will continue to make the beaches safe for all men, women and children. We will not let one person take away the fun from our beaches.’ We will continue to update you as more information becomes available.”

Morgan shakes his head. “What the fuck? I know you told Pines the killer isn’t local!”

“Obviously one of his deputies wanted to sound important. If we narrow down the victim pool to surfers we are going to have a hard time talking to them if they think we’re looking to arrest them,” JJ points out.

“Not to mention trying to warn them if we find an unsub,” Reid interjects.

Morgan sighs. “Jayje, call Emily back in. She needs to—”

“I can do it, Morgan.” She raises a hand to stop his argument. “I know I’m a fucking profiler-in-training on this case but damn it, she needs to rest. Her blood pressure was too fucking high. And besides, we’re losing my position anyway. We’re all going to be pulling double duty and I may as well start now.”

Morgan stands. “No, let me do it. Jayje, you need to be able to get out into the field not get stuck here at the station.”

She raises an eyebrow. “ _You_   want to talk to the press?”

“Hell no, I don’t   _want_  to. But it’s the smarter move. I’ll see about setting up a press conference to clear up a lot of the bullshit that’s out there.”

JJ slowly nods. “Okay. But…if you need help or advice or anything let me know. I’m telling you, Morgan, it’s not as easy as it looks.”

“Come on, Jayje, it will be just a quick statement and then back to work.”

She narrows her eyes. “No, Derek, it won’t be. As soon as you put your face in front of them you are the one they will be calling. Both the media and the public. Do you not remember the stack of messages Emily had to go through back in Lancaster? Every day? You’ll become the face of this case for everyone with a TV. You can’t ignore those calls and you will have to look over every message you get just in case one actually is important.”

Morgan frowns. He hadn’t considered all that. “Shit. I guess that’s why Em was so snippy while taking the ML courses.”

JJ nods. “Yeah. Now, do you still want to do it?”

Morgan slowly shakes his head. “No, I know when I’m out of my league. You do it, JJ. And I’m sorry if I made it sound like the media liaison position was easy.”

JJ smiles. “I’ll forgive you for now. And I will probably laugh at you when you have to take the courses when we lose the position for the team.”

Morgan chuckles. “Fair enough.”

* * *

 

Hotch comes out of the cabin and puts his sunglasses back on. Rossi turns his attention from the water to his boss.

“More parts?”

“Yeah. Coast Guard is picking them up off Port Aransas, which Emily had predicted would be the dump site.”

Rossi frowns. “How the hell did she guess that?”

“Weather patterns. There is a storm rolling that way. Should hit tonight.” Hotch stares out at the ocean. “You ever noticed how just before a storm hits the surfers have a blast with the bigger waves rolling in?”

Rossi nods. “Yeah. More credence to the surfer theory. Maybe we can—what the hell is that?”

Rossi points to something floating just off the port side of the boat. The agents move closer to the railing and both blanch at what they see. Hotch reaches into the storage bench in front of him and pulls out the fishing net. Rossi steps inside the cabin of the boat to grab a trash bag. By the time he gets back, Hotch has snared the human head in the fishing net.

Holding his breath, Hotch lifts the macabre object from the water and moves it towards Rossi. It is only then the older agent realizes just how close he’ll have to be to the skull to bag it. He lets out a string of Italian that Emily had once translated for Hotch. After dropping the skull in the bag, Hotch looks at Rossi.

“You ever call me that again I’ll deck you, Dave.”

Rossi glares at him. “Remind me to write Emily out of my will.”

Hotch just grins. Rossi ties up the bag and sets it in a corner. The two men and the captain of the boat stare out at the water for the next hour but no other body parts appear. Hotch looks at the captain.

“How much would it cost for you to take us down to Port Aransas?”

“Not enough money in the world. Big storm heading that way. By now the waves will already be getting choppy. Can’t risk my boat. Sorry.”

Hotch nods. “Of course. No problem.” Hotch looks at Dave. “If our surfer really is there waiting for the storm surge, we need to get there.”

“What good will it do? There will be hundreds of fools out there looking to play in that crap.”

“True. But one of those fools is a serial killer. And this may be a chance to stop him or her. Let’s head back, get this head to the ME for identification, and then head down that way.”

Rossi nods. “You’re the boss.”

Hotch tells the captain to head back to shore at a medium speed. He and Rossi continue to scan the water for body parts but do not get…lucky?...again that trip.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Yes, I researched it and a skull would float temporarily. It would actually sink, then gasses from the decomp of the brain added to tongue swelling would bring it back to the surface. My search history is a rather gruesome thing right now between that question and questions about human sacrifice rituals of ocean-centric civilizations. Eesh! :o)


	7. Chapter 7

When JJ gets back to the hotel around 6 p.m. she is trying to be quiet in case Emily is resting. She should have known better. The profiler is sitting at the desk, papers strewn around her, studying something on her laptop.

“Hey, feeling better?” JJ asks.

“Yep. Mostly. Still a little queasy so I just worked from here.”

JJ raises an eyebrow. “Did you rest at all?”

Emily grins at the scrutiny. “Yes, honey, I did. I swear. Here.”

She holds the little hotel notepad from beside the phone out to JJ. JJ takes it, reading the times and blood pressure readings written on it. She steps closer to her wife and gives her a kiss.

“Good girl.”

“Thanks, Mom,” Emily says with a grin.

JJ studies the times a bit, then frowns at Emily. “Um, when did you start working on…well, whatever this is?”

“Around 1. Why?”

JJ just chuckles and shakes her head. “Because the more you worked the better your blood pressure got. That’s just twisted, baby.”

Emily laughs. “Yeah, I noticed that, too. What do you want to bet we’re all that fucking twisted?”

JJ rolls her eyes. “Not taking that sucker bet. So, are you up for dinner?”

Emily sighs. “Soups out. I’m hungry and, well, I kinda have a craving for something but I’m not sure how good it will really be.”

“What?”

Emily’s face scrunches in embarrassment. “Anchovy pizza.”

JJ just stares at Emily. “Like…just anchovies? Nothing else? Sauce, cheese, anchovies and crust?” Emily nods. JJ considers this a moment then finally shakes her head. “There is no damn way we’re getting that delivered. It will stink up the room.” Emily’s face gets more scrunched. JJ puts her hands on her hips. “You already ordered it, didn’t you?”

“Sort of,” Emily admits. “Got a supreme for you.”

JJ sighs. “Is there any chance you would agree to eating it at the picnic area out behind the hotel? Please?”

Emily chuckles. “Well, since I’ve kind of taken over the desk and table sure. I’m sorry, Jen.”

“Don’t be sorry, just…please don’t order one of those for a teeny, tiny hotel room ever again. Okay?”

Emily smiles and pulls her down into her lap. “Deal, Mrs. Prentiss.”

The two share a deep kiss that is interrupted by a knock on the door. Emily goes to answer it, excited her pizza has arrived. JJ quickly changes and they head out to enjoy their dinner. They run into Morgan along the way.

“Ah, pizza! Perfect!”

“ _Anchovy_  pizza,” JJ stresses.

He looks at her with disgust. “Uh, seriously?”

JJ nods. “Seriously.”

“Damn, Jayje, you deserve a medal for that one. Think I’ll stick with a burger from room service.”

He heads on. Emily looks at JJ. “You could have mentioned the supreme.”

JJ winks. “Nope. Got to have something left for breakfast in the morning.”

They laugh and head on out to enjoy their picnic dinner. JJ is slightly ill watching her wife dig in to the anchovy pizza. Finally she grins.

“I love you so much. But you better brush your teeth twice before even thinking about kissing me goodnight.”

Emily just smiles happily and takes another big bite. They are done and getting ready to call Henry when Rossi and Hotch walk out the doors to see them.

“Hey, Sailors. Just in port for the night?” Emily teases.

Rossi winks. “You guessed it. Looking to find a couple hotties for a good time before we leave port again.”

Emily chuckles. “Well, we’re taken but I have these friends Morgan and Reid that might be right up your alley.”

“Bite your tongue, woman,” Rossi teases back.

Hotch looks at JJ. “I understand you had to turn into a media liaison again.”

Emily turns to her wife. She hadn’t heart this.

JJ stiffens defensively. “I had to, Hotch. Em was sick and some idiot deputy had told the media the killer is a local surfer and that they would have him in custody soon. No offense to them, but there was no way in hell I was sending Reid or Morgan in front of the cameras.”

“Shit, Jen,” Emily mutters. She looks at their chief. “This was my fault, Hotch. Morning sickness hit. I should have been there. I swear I’ll take back over tomorrow no matter what.”

Hotch sighs. “JJ, I understand. Good job trying to get control back from the media. Emily, you don’t need to apologize. Something tells me a lot of what you read and hear about the bodies in this case may hit you a little strangely. Just take care of yourself and Rocky.”

Emily grins. “So you’re calling my child Rocky now, too?” She looks at JJ. “This is all your fault, Jen.”

JJ just smiles unapologetically. Hotch glances at his watch.

“By the way, Prentiss, you were right about Port Aransas. We’re all going to head down that way tomorrow. The storm should be causing some swells that will draw all the surfers out.”

Emily nods. “Yeah, they will. And I have something in my room to show you. Hotch, this killer has been doing this the better part of 2 years all along the Gulf Coast. Garcia pulled up hundreds of like crime hits. I’ve been singling out ones showing signs of mechanical dismemberment versus natural dismemberment then checking time of death against storm fronts.”

“How many do you have so far?” Rossi asks.

Emily sighs. “Sadly, you probably don’t want to know.”

Hotch shakes his head. “I was worried about that. Well, pull together as much as you can. If we catch this bastard we’ll make sure every state that wants to gets a crack at him.”

“Uh, her, Hotch,” Emily corrects.

“Her? You’re sure?” he asks.

“99.9%. Women would sacrifice a man, a virile man who would be a perfect way to honor the gods. A man would sacrifice a virginal woman for the same reason.”

“So you’re sure about the ritual sacrifice angle?” Rossi pushes.

“Rossi, what the hell other reason could there be? A young, strong man killed right before a major storm. It’s either for protection from the storm or to thank the gods for the storm. Everything about this situation, from the sawed off body parts to the fact that they show up just before storm fronts says ritual sacrifice to me,” Emily concludes.

Rossi stares at her a moment, then slowly nods. “I was really hoping you would make me doubt that angle. So we’re looking for a woman paying homage to sea gods.”

“Or storm gods. We won’t know for sure which until we catch her.”

“Then let’s hope that’s tomorrow,” Hotch says.

“If not, we can maybe predict her next city. I’ve been watching two fronts forming out at sea. Depending on the track they take, we can perhaps expect her to hit ahead of those storms,” Emily informs them.

Hotch blows out a breath. “This is twisted beyond our normal twisted unsub. Get a good night’s sleep. We’ll leave at 6.”

The women nod as Hotch and Rossi head inside. Emily looks to her wife.

“How about we go in, I keep playing with my tracker and you study some?”

JJ sighs. “Study…right…the exam…”

Emily frowns. “What’s going on in your head, Jen?”

“Nothing. Just…the test…I…I got another job offer today. How come no one thinks I can pass it but you all?”

Emily reaches and takes her wife’s hand. “They know you can, too. That’s why they are approaching you now, hoping to make you an offer that will make you not even worry about taking it. If they didn’t think you were going to pass, they would wait until the grade posts. Then their offers wouldn’t have to be as good because you would be forced to make a move.”

JJ stares at the beautiful brunette a moment, considering her words. “Holy crap…you’re right.” Her face breaks into a big smile. “Fuck them all. I’m a damn profiler!”

Emily chuckles. “Damn right you are!”

They head inside to give Henry a call before settling down for the evening to work and study.


	8. Chapter 8

“Oh, hey, let me give you a hand with that,” Buffy offers.

A middle-aged man carrying way too many things gladly accepts her offer to take the cooler he had nearly dropped. “Thank you so much. Promised my wife I’d have everything packed so we can leave when she gets here.”

Buffy chuckles. “And let me guess, you’re running a bit behind?”

He grins. “Exactly. Our slip is just down this way.”

“You must be heading out for more than the day,” she says conversationally.

“Yep. Heading up to Louisiana to see her parents and do some fishing for the rest of the week.”

“Cool! That sounds like fun.” He steps onto his boat and sets his packages in the cabin. Buffy offers him the cooler she had carried. “Well, here you go. Have a great trip.”

“Thanks. I really appreciate the assist.”

“No problem. See you around.”

Buffy heads off, noting the slip number of her new friend. She heads up to a vantage point where she can watch him unobserved. An hour later, she smiles as he and his wife motor out of the marina. She heads to the public slips and gets her boat, moving it to the permanent slip she knows will be available to her for the next week.

Once she is settled she gets her two surf boards out and starts to wax them. Tomorrow she would welcome the day by riding the storm surge. She sits back on her heels, fingering the shark tooth she keeps on a necklace. It had been embedded in the board she was on when she nearly became dinner for a lemon shark. A gift from the gods to their willing priestess. She stares out at the fading light but sees not the boats docked around her but an altar on the beach that exists only in her mind. Finally she stands.

“I understand. You need another sacrifice. I will find one for you tonight.”

She puts her boards back in the cabin. She quickly changes from cut offs and a tee shirt to a miniskirt and crop top. She fluffs her hair and applies make up. She hates the frou-frou rituals of hunting but knows it is necessary to honor her protectors. She heads to the parking lot and steals a car, driving it down to the hub of nightclubs and restaurants. If all goes well, she’ll leave with the sacrifice and won’t need the stolen auto again.

Buffy eases into the first bar she comes to, scanning the crowd to find the right guy. He needed to be strong and good looking, a true catch. Sacrificing such a prize would make the gods very pleased. As if by divine intervention, the crowd parts and she sees her mark. At least 6’ tall, shoulder length blonde hair, ice blue eyes, muscles to die for. Yes, it would be a shame to take him out of the dating pool which makes him a perfect sacrifice.

She makes her way over to him. “Buy me a drink?”

He stares at her. “And why would I do that?”

She gives him a killer smile. “I can be very…appreciative,” she says with an inflection that leaves no doubt as to what she means.

He grins. Typical male, he is happy to be hit on by a pretty woman hinting at sex. “What’s your pleasure?”

She licks her lip sensuously. “Sex on the Beach.” She pauses for effect. “But my drink of choice is a rum and Coke.”

He chuckles and runs a hand up her arm. “I think I can satisfy both of those needs.”

Two hours later, he is quite drunk and very horny. She leads him back to her boat. “Did you bring protection?” she pants at him as they head into the cabin.

“I’m always prepared, baby.”

She grins. “Good.”

She turns and pushes him onto the bed. She straddles him, her hand snaking up into the small storage area behind his head. As she leans in to kiss him, her hands close around a syringe. As she sits up he stares at her, expecting her to strip off her shirt…not expecting to get stabbed in the neck with a syringe full of ketamine.

As the drug takes effect, she gets off him, staring at him, the fear in his eyes making her feel powerful. She runs a hand down his cheek.

“Don’t be scared. The gods will welcome you with open arms. Your looks will please them greatly.”

She unties the boat and heads out to sea. An hour later, she drags him out of the cabin. She sees the tears on his face and smiles.

“I promise you: there is nothing to fear. You should be honored that they led me to you. Your purpose on Earth was even greater than you could have imagined.”

His eyes widen as she holds up the Dremel. He can’t even scream as she starts to dismember him…alive.

* * *

 

Three hours later Buffy throws his skull into the ocean. She rubs her hand through the blood on the deck of her boat. She moves to the front and leans over the railing, smearing her hand across the front. Just like the ancient Vikings had believed, the blood of her sacrifice becomes a protective shield for her boat.

Had anyone taken a close look at the black hull, they might have seen the remnants of previous blood shields still there.

She heads back to the deck, grabbing a 5 gallon bucket as she does. Scooping bucketfuls of ocean water she cleans the blood from the deck. By the time she is done, the water is choppy as the first predators have started investigating the body parts floating on the current.

“Enjoy, my friends. See you in the storm surge tomorrow.”

She makes her way back to shore, eager to get a good night’s sleep so she will be ready for surfing at dawn.


	9. Chapter 9

At 2:30 a.m. JJ rolls over in her sleep and her hand hits…the mattress. She sits up and sees the light on in the bathroom. She lies back down, assuming Emily will be back momentarily. After a few minutes, JJ frowns. She gets up and heads to the door. She taps lightly.

“Emily? You okay, baby?”

“Fine,” answers a weak voice.

JJ stiffens. She tries the door and is glad it is unlocked. She opens it and sees Emily sitting on the floor, leaning against the tub, tears on her cheeks. JJ rushes in and drops down beside her wife.

“EM! Baby, what’s wrong? Rocky? Morning sickness?”

Emily swallows. “Nightmare.”

JJ strokes a hand through Emily’s hair. “Why the hell didn’t you wake me?”

Emily shrugs. “You need sleep.”

JJ rolls her eyes. “So do you, Em.” JJ stands and takes the brunette’s hand. “Come on. Let’s go back to bed. You can tell me about it while I hold you.”

Emily allows JJ to help her up. Her trembling body is not missed by the blonde. In bed, Emily clings to her wife, drawing comfort in the strength of the arms holding her. JJ kisses Em’s forehead.

“Tell me, baby.”

Emily shivers. Part of her knows she needs to talk about it to move on. A larger part of her is ridiculously scared to voice the horror her mind had conjured. JJ can sense the war being waged inside Emily. She tilts her head up, staring into scared brown eyes.

“Talk it out, Emily. Take your power back from the images haunting you.”

Emily stares into blue eyes filled with compassion and strength. She slowly nods.

“He…he had you and Henry and Declan. I was trying to get to you but the harder I ran the farther away you were. And then just when I was about to catch up to you I realized you were on a boat.” She frowns. “I…I’m not sure where I was but…I could see the fins. He…he just laughed and pushed you in with Henry. Jen, they…the sharks…they were…God, your screams…”

Emily shakes her head. She can’t say anymore. JJ just pulls her closer.

“Feel my heartbeat, Em. _That’s_  what’s real. That dream is just your mind mixing your crap with Ian up with the hell that is this case. It’s not real. My heartbeat, my warmth, my love, those things are real, baby. You know that.”

“I…I know. It just…it was so horrible, Jen.”

“I know, sweetheart. I know.”

For the next hour, JJ just holds Emily, stroking a hand through her hair to calm her. Finally just before 4 they both fall asleep again. When the alarm goes off at 5, Emily is still safe in JJ’s arms. She stares at her wife.

“Thank you, Jen. I’m sorry I didn’t wake you.”

JJ smiles. “I accept your apology if you promise to wake me no matter what.”

Emily grins. “You drive a hard bargain, Mrs. Prentiss.”

“I learned from the best, Mrs. Prentiss.”

Emily tilts her head up enough to kiss her wife. “Good morning, baby. I promise I will wake you from now on.”

“Good girl. Come on…let’s go conserve some water.”

Emily smiles. “Naughty girl.”

Emily follows her into the bathroom, knowing showering together is a way for JJ to really make sure Emily is okay. She owes it to her wife to allow that bit of comfort. And she is happy to give it because of the comfort it offers her, too.

* * *

 

Just before 6 they are heading towards the elevator. JJ has just taken a bite of her leftover pizza when Morgan walks out of his room. He stares at the blonde a moment.

“That doesn’t look like anchovy pizza,” he notes.

JJ grins and looks confused. “Oh, did I forget to mention I got a supreme?”

He laughs and nods. “Yeah, I see how it is. I’ll remember this, Blondie.”

JJ just smiles and takes another bite. In the lobby they find Hotch already waiting for them. None of them are surprised he beat them downstairs. He holds up the stack of papers Emily had delivered to him the night before.

“Nice work, Prentiss. I agree with your ideas. Now we just need to find the unsub and get her convicted in every one of these killings.”

Emily nods. “Agreed. Thank you, sir.”

“You going to be up to speaking with the media today?”

Emily shrugs. “I hope so. I wish I knew for sure.”

He nods and looks at JJ. “Be ready to sub in if needed. I don’t think the world is ready for Morgan or Reid talking to the media.”

He and the women laugh as Morgan sneers.

“Yeah, I see how it is. JJ hides her pizza from me and you question my ability to be a media god. Good thing I have Garcia to love me.”

* * *

 

Just over 4 hours later, Hotch and the others stare out at the surfers braving the waves. The storm is nearly upon them and yet thrill seekers are still out there, trying to find the perfect wave. Rossi looks at his boss.

“How the hell do we tell which crazy bastard is   _our_   crazy bastard?”

Hotch slowly shakes his head. “I have no idea.”

Emily shrugs. “Well, first of all, our bastard is a woman. That should cut a good 60 percent of these people out.”

“71.6 percent, actually,” Reid notes, studying the water.

Emily grins. “I stand corrected. Secondly…she will be pretty enough to lure men back to her boat with no problem.” She looks pointedly at Reid.

“Beauty is a matter of opinion and cultural influence. I can’t quantify it so I can’t eliminate any of the women we see,” he admits.

“Damn subjective opinions!” Rossi teases. Reid just grins.

“Okay, so let’s fan out and just study the women here. Prentiss, Morgan, stay off the beach. From up here you have a pretty good vantage point to observe everyone. If you see something that could help us, call us. JJ, Rossi head north. Reid and I will head south. And I’m sure it goes without saying but I’ll say it anyway: be careful.”

As the team splits up, Morgan’s cell rings. It is Lt. Danforth again.

“Agent Morgan? We’ve got a fresh kill. And we have most of it.”

“What? Where?”

“The cutter about a mile off Nueces County Park. They went back out today to see if they could find more body parts from yesterday’s body. According the captain of the boat they have both arms, most of the torso and one leg. Another boat is heading out that way to see if the head floats back up or if the other leg appears.”

“Damn…nice job, Lieutenant. Are they going up to Galveston?”

“Yes. We have clearance to take it all up there so they can be matched to other body parts. Please tell me we are stopping this guy soon.”

Morgan sighs. “I sure hope so, Lieutenant. I’ll be in touch.” He hangs up and tells Emily what he has just heard. She frowns.

“Two sacrifices that close together. That’s new.”

“Are we sure?” Morgan questions. “I mean, we have a lot of unidentified remains and who knows how many were eaten, never to be recovered.”

Emily nods. “True. But the fact that it never happened leads me to think this is something new. I mean, think of it this way: when you make an offering at church do you feel compelled to make the same offering again just hours later?”

Morgan slowly nods. “Good point. But it doesn’t feel like an escalation. Not if she is doing this as a ritual sacrifice. So what changed? What drove her to kill again?”

Emily thinks a moment then shrugs. “That I don’t know. But two more storm fronts are forming, Morgan. If we don’t stop her today she’ll kill at least once more.”

He nods. “I know. And we’ll have to guess which storm she would be most intrigued by.”

Emily stiffens as an idea forms. She pulls out her phone. “Garcia, those storms I sent to you to catalog against the body parts, can you figure out if other storms were happening in a relatively close proximity? And if yes, which one was stronger?”

Garcia thinks a moment. “Yeah, I think I can do that. I mean, I should be able to do that. Why aren’t you doing that?”

Emily grins. “Oh, Morgan and I are just hanging out at the beach watching all the hotties surf.”

There is a grand pause. Morgan chuckles. “Emily Prentiss, sometimes you just royally suck. Did you know there was an icy rain this morning? Or that my umbrella broke and I got that icy rain down the back of my neck? And that I am not hanging out on the beach like you two bums but rather hanging in my little cave-like lair?”

Emily chortles. “Uh, nope, I didn’t know all that, Pen. But if it makes you feel better it’s raining a little.”

“You still suck, Emily. Suck, suck, suck. Icy Goddess out.”

Garcia clicks off as Morgan busts out laughing. “You can be mean, Prentiss.”

Emily grins and nods. “But she still loves me.” She glances around the parking lot and frowns. “Hey, let’s go see what’s going on over there.”

Morgan follows her gaze and sees the two police officers checking out a car. They wander over and introduce themselves.

“I’m SSA Derek Morgan of the FBI. This is SSA Emily Prentiss. Just curious as to what you’re doing.”

The older officer looks him up and down. “What’s it to you?”

“We’re investigating the body parts being found out in the Gulf. Let’s just say anything going on around here we’ll want to check out just to see if it relates. May not but better safe than getting our asses chewed by the boss,” he says conversationally.

The officer grins. “I hear that.” He nods towards the car. “This car was reported stolen from a local marina. We’re getting ready to have it towed—”

“No! Wait…don’t!” Emily pleads. She looks at Morgan “If we’re right and our unsub is on a boat, they would need a way to get from the marina to the beach with their board.”

Morgan slowly nods. “You’re right.” He looks to the officers. “Any chance we can sit on this for a while? See if someone shows up for it?”

The officer shrugs. “Let me check in with my boss.” He grins. “Don’t want my ass chewed, you know?”

Morgan laughs. “I get it, man. I get it.”

Emily calls Hotch and lets him know about the potential lead. Of course, it may just be a coincidence but cases have been solved with less.

* * *

 

Hotch closes his phone and looks at Reid. “She’s here. Somewhere.” He tells Reid about the car. “If we can follow her back to the marina we’ll have her boat. If we have her boat we have our murder scene.”

“True. Hopefully no matter how well she cleaned she’ll have missed some DNA somewhere.”

They continue to scan the crowds. Suddenly a board standing in the sand catches Reid’s eyes.

“Hun-Nal-Ye,” he says.

Hotch looks at him in confusion. “What?”

“Hun-Nal-Ye, Mayan god of sharks. That’s his symbol on that board.”

Hotch glances at the board Reid is staring at. “You’re sure?” Reid looks at him and raises an eyebrow. Hotch nods. “Of course you are. Dumb question. Okay, we need to hang out here and see who owns that one. It could be a long shot but maybe not.”

He pulls out his phone and calls JJ and Rossi to let them know about the surfboard. As he hangs up he and Reid start to look around, trying to see if anything else about the surfers around them scream “unsub” at them.

* * *

 

JJ looks at Rossi. “Do you know anything about sea gods?”

“I’m an Italian Catholic. What do you think?” he asks.

“Right. We’re screwed.” She grins. “Should have asked to borrow Emily’s brain for this.”

Rossi chuckles and they keep walking down the beach, studying the people they pass. Rossi finally shakes his head.

“They all look nuts to me,” he states.

JJ grins. “I agree. Then again, you know how I feel about the ocean. This case isn’t doing anything to change that opinion.”

Rossi nods. “I see. But what about that island you honeymooned on?”

“That was different.” She smiles as she remembers that week. “The water was so blue, so clear you could see forever. It was more like a pool than the ocean.”

“And you had the love of a beautiful woman to ease your fears, too, right?”

JJ blushes. “Well, yeah, that helped.”

They continue to walk in silence, scanning the crowd. A design on a board catches JJ’s eye. A giant feathered serpent decorates the top of it. She stares at it, trying to figure out why it seemed familiar. She snaps a picture of it and sends it to Emily.

“ _What is this?”_   she types.

A few minutes later she gets a response.

_“Looks like the Mayan god Gucumatz, a deity of wind and rain. Part of a triad with Huracan and Tepeu. Might want to watch for the owner.”_

JJ hands her phone to Rossi so he can see the answer. She is scanning the surfers in the area. Is there a woman who looks like she might be into Mayan, or any other, gods? Rossi hands her phone back.

“Who needs Reid when we have Emily?”

JJ grins. “Two nerds are always better than one, that’s for sure.”

“I second that. It’s nice to have the team back up in full.”

JJ nods. “Yeah,” she says sadly. “Hopefully it will stay this way.”

Rossi places a hand on her shoulder. “Jennifer, you will pass. I know it. You are damn good at this job. That piece of paper is just a formality. You’re a profiler already.”

She smiles at him. “Thanks, Dave. I waver between believing that and doubting it.”

“Then stop. You’ll do fine, JJ. We all believe in you.”

She nods and goes to speak but stops. A rather pretty woman has walked up to the board. She places a long board on the sand before grabbing the short board and heading back to the waves. JJ looks at Rossi then moves towards the board. He keeps his distance. JJ takes a picture of the long board and then moves to get a picture of the woman who owns it. She decides to send the grainy image to Garcia.

“ _Garcia, see if you can ID this woman_ ,” JJ types.

“Hey, bitch, what are you doing?” a guy asks from beside JJ.

JJ grins. “Oh, nothing. Just enjoying the day.”

He grabs at her phone. “Bullshit! I saw you take a picture!”

JJ steps away from him. “Look, I don’t want any trouble here. I’m just here enjoying the beach.”

She looks around and realizes this guy has buddies. They are slowly surrounding her. She straightens her back and pulls back the edge of her rain jacket, exposing her gun as she pulls her badge.

“Back off, guys. Now!” she orders.

The first man that approached her grabs at the phone again. JJ holds it away and another man smacks it from her hand, sending it into the surf line.

“SHIT!” JJ states. “Okay, that would be assaulting a Federal Agent and destroying government property. You can either move off or get arrested. Your choice!”

Rossi sees what is happening and moves closer. “I’d listen if I were you, boys.”

The men suddenly realize JJ isn’t alone. There are a few more rude comments thrown her way but eventually the men leave the agents alone. JJ breathes a sigh of relief.

“Thanks, Rossi.

“Any time, JJ.”

JJ scans the ocean. “Shit.” She looks back towards the long board. “Shit, Rossi, she’s gone.” She picks up her water-logged phone. “Damn it…never got a chance to send it. Call Em and Morgan. Tell them to watch the parking lot for her.”

Rossi nods and calls them, hoping they will see their potential unsub. With nothing more to do in that area, they continue their walk down the beach in case she isn’t the one they are looking for.


	10. Chapter 10

Buffy curses when she sees the police hanging out near the car she had borrowed from the marina. They are trying not to look like they are watching but they are not good at being invisible. No problem. She looks around and sees a guy near a van taking off his wetsuit. She takes a deep breath, bringing tears to her eyes. She approaches the man.

“Um, hi,” she says, her voice wavering.

He looks at her in surprise. “Hi. You okay?”

“Not really,” she mumbles. “Um, look, my boyfriend dumped me. Literally. Left me and my boards here and took off.”

“Bastard,” he says, frowning.

She fakes a nervous laugh. “You don’t know the half of it. Look, I trust you ‘cause you’re a surfer and look like you can be trusted. Can you maybe give me a ride back to my boat? It’s in the marina up the road.”

“That bastard going to be there?” he asks with concern.

“Nah. He probably went to his house.” She bites her lip nervously, and idea forming in her head. “Well, I mean…I guess he would. Yeah, I’m sure he wouldn’t wait there for me.” She glances around nervously, trying not to meet the man’s eyes; playing the scared little woman card that sickens her.

He sighs. “Look, how about I take you there and come down to the boat with you to make sure.” He gives her a kind smile. “My mother would kill me if I didn’t make sure you were safe.”

Buffy gives him a small smile, her eyes still nervous. “Oh, uh. Okay. Wouldn’t want to see you killed, I guess.”

He chuckles. “Thanks. Let’s get your stuff stowed and go.”

He puts her boards and backpack in his van and opens the passenger door for her. She gives him a nervous thank you. As he walks around the back of the van to the driver’s side, she rolls her eyes.

“Stupid sap,” she mutters.

Twenty minutes later they are pulling into the marina. She looks around, seemingly making sure her non-existent boyfriend isn’t around.

“I…I don’t see him.”

“Good. Come on. Let’s go make sure.”

He grabs both of her boards, leaving her with just her backpack. She leads him to her boat and points it out. He lays her boards on the docks and climbs onto the boat. He ducks down into the cabin, not noticing Buffy had followed.

“Well, it looks all—UNGH!”

She watches as he crumbles to the ground. She sets the fire extinguisher back in it’s holder on the side of the boat. She fingers the shark tooth on her necklace.

“I know I wasn’t supposed to harm them but this one was too good to lose. His purity and kindness make him a worthy sacrifice for you.”

She gets her boards and backpack off the dock. She drags him farther into the cabin and doses him with ketamine. Another storm was heading towards Galveston. Time to head back there again. She strokes a hand down the man’s face.

“Fear not. You’re purpose in the world is greater than you ever knew.”

She stands and grabs the zipper pull on her wetsuit. As her back is revealed so are the series of tattoos on her back: Hun-Nal-Ye, Gucumatz, Huracan and Tepeu. Those four circle the largest one in the center of her back: Manik, Mayan god of sacrifice and ritual suffering. She is his priestess, serving him and the gods that govern the seas and storms.

She quickly changes into shorts and a tee shirt. She had planned to wait out the storm here. But she is sure they had sent her the men on the beach to expose the FBI agent to her. A warning that she must leave. A warning she will heed.

“Thank you, my masters. I head north to honor you at nightfall. Protect me.”

With the storm starting to hit hard, she pulls out of the marina. One man watches the boat leave and shakes his head.

“Damn fool to leave in this shit. May God have mercy on your soul,” he mutters and turns back to battening down his hatches.

* * *

 

The team regroups at their SUV’s. Emily sits in one, checking radar patterns on the two storms she had been watching. Hotch shakes his head.

“Board we were watching was owned by a guy probably in his 60’s. Way out of our profile,” he notes.

JJ shakes her head. “It had to be that woman we saw. If only I’d hit send before I dropped my phone.”

Rossi looks at her. “A) you didn’t drop it, it was knocked out of your hand. And B) forget about her for now. If you focus on her and it isn’t her you may miss something.”

JJ lets out a breath and nods. “Right. I knew that. Sorry. Just frustrated.”

Reid pats her shoulder. “Join the club.”

Morgan walks back up to them as the police load the stolen car onto a flatbed. “They’ll dust it for prints. Maybe we’ll get lucky.”

Emily leans out the door. “Guys, the two storms I’m tracking look like they may converge into one. Galveston is in their path.”

Hotch sighs. “When will they hit.”

“First waves should be rolling in tomorrow night. Worst of it the Friday morning and afternoon,” she reports.

Hotch nods. “It’s more than we had. We can—hold on.” He answers his phone. “Hotchner.”

“Agent Hotchner? Dr. Goran. Just finished preliminary toxicology tests on the body parts brought in today. This guy had ketamine in his system.”

“Ketamine? I think that answers how she overpowered them.”

“She? This killer is a woman?”

“Possibly. Anything else you can tell us?”

“Got 2 good fingers off this man. If he has prints on record we may be able to find him. He also had 3 tattoos. Sent them on to that Garcia woman I sent the others to.”

“Excellent. If they are on record she’ll find them.”

“Right. Hotchner, there’s one more thing. The leg that was recovered showed signs of having a hemorrhagic reaction.”

“What exactly does that mean?” Hotch asks.

“That sick fucker cut that leg off while the victim was still alive.”

“Holy shit,” Hotch mutters.

“Yeah. I doubt he lived past that removal but…still…the ketamine would have meant the poor bastard knew exactly what was happening. Catch this sick fuck, Hotchner. Please,” the doctor asks desperately.

“We’ll do our best. We’re heading back up that way tonight. We’ll see you in the morning to take a look at the body.”

“Sounds good.”

Hotch hangs up his phone and stares out at the sea a moment. “Reid…ketamine.”

Reid knows he’s being asked to give a run down of the uses of ketamine. “Ketamine is often used as a general anesthesia in human and veterinary medicines. In high doses it can cause respiratory issues or act as a paralytic.”

“How would our unsub get a hold of it?”

“Working or stealing from a medical facility. Garcia can maybe check that out. But it can also be used to control pain in controlled areas or it can also be used to treat someone with bipolar disorder who does not respond well to other treatments.”

“This doesn’t feel like a bipolar sufferers actions,” Rossi points out.

“No but pain could be the key. Maybe a surfing injury was severe enough to send her into this type of treatment and she kept some around for this task,” JJ suggests.

Hotch nods. “That sounds right. Okay, Morgan, Reid head to the marina where the car was stolen. Maybe she got a ride back some other way. Stay the night here and join us in Galveston tomorrow.”

Reid nods. “Okay. I’ll call Garcia and get her checking on the ketamine angle.”

“Good. JJ? A word please,” Hotch asks and steps away from the group.

JJ follows him to the stairwell that leads to the beach. She is expecting a dressing down for losing their first suspect and the photo of her. Instead, he surprises her.

“Tomorrow is Thursday. If we don’t have the case solved you’re heading back to DC on Friday morning.”

“What? Why? I didn’t mean to let her get away, Hotch! I had to flash my badge at—”

“JJ!” He interrupts her. “This hasn’t got anything to do with that. You did what you had to do to diffuse the situation. No harm there. But you have a test to take on Saturday. Change that…you have a test to pass on Saturday. If I get one more resume or email from an agent who has heard I’ve got a position coming open I may retire so I don’t have to deal with them. I hate hiring people.”

She grins at him. “Uh, right.” She chuckles. “Guess it’s a good thing Emily got foisted off onto you then.”

He laughs. “Yeah, she shows promise.”

JJ nods. “Right. Promise. Okay, guess we better catch this bitch tomorrow then. I hate the thought of leaving before we have her.”

The two head back to their SUV. When JJ gets in the drivers seat of hers, Emily looks at her.

“All okay? He’s not pissed about the phone, is he?”

JJ laughs. “Not this time.” She tells Emily what was said. “I hate the thought of leaving you here alone with the sickness and the nightmares and such.”

Emily reaches over and takes her wife’s hand. “I’ll be fine, baby. I promise.”

“Promise me if you need to you’ll call Reid or Morgan? Please?”

Emily squeezes JJ’s hand. “I promise.”

“Good.”

They continue their drive north to Galveston with Emily mapping out other storms in the Gulf of Mexico. If they miss their unsub in Galveston they would once again have to try to guess which beach she would be hitting next.

In the other northbound SUV, Rossi looks at Hotch. “What didn’t you tell us?”

Hotch stares out the windshield for a moment. “The victim was alive, Dave,” he says quietly. “He was alive when she cut off the leg but immobilized by the ketamine. Most likely he knew exactly what was happening until death finally claimed him.”

Rossi looks out the passenger side window. He says a quick prayer under his breath and crosses himself. Their unsub had her gods, he had his. And he believes his will be the one victorious in the end.


	11. Chapter 11

Later that night Emily is checking her email and smiles. “He finally sent it,” she whispers.

JJ hears the whisper but not the exact words. She looks up from studying and sees the smile on her wife’s face. “Em? You okay?”

Emily looks at JJ and grins. “Declan sent me his lacrosse schedule. He says he hopes we can make some games and wants to meet you and Henry soon.”

JJ smiles. “That’s great, honey. Has Tom talked to him yet about things?”

Emily nods. “Yes. Everything but what we want to tell him ourselves. Maybe Sunday while Will still has Henry we can meet them for brunch or something? Just to…to break the ice.”

JJ’s eyes darken at the mention of Will. “Will,” she says venomously. “Forgot he was picking up Henry this weekend. He better hope I’m not at the house when he arrives.”

“Jen, don’t—”

“STOP, Em! Don’t even tell me not to be mad or not to give him a piece of my mind. We would   _never_   have pulled that kind of shit on him. And he’s going to know that I will not stand for it ever again. He tried to steal Henry from us. I have a fucking right to my fury at him and a right to let him know about it.”

Emily sighs as JJ directs her attention back to the book in front of her. Emily won’t look down on her for the anger but she hopes nothing happens to destroy the relationship between her wife and Will. Not as much for them as for Henry. This crazy situation can only work for their son if all parties keep the animosity out of the equation.

A little while later JJ puts her book away. She knows Emily is mad. She gets up and goes to her wife, starting to massage her shoulders.

“I’m sorry. But please understand I want a chance to confront Will about what he did. I need to. I will try to keep it civil for Henry’s sake.”

Emily turns and takes her wife’s hands. “Good. I know you need to talk to him. But this parenting arrangement will only work if we keep the anger out of it. For all of us.”

JJ nods. “I know. I promise. I won’t be mean just…angry.”

Emily grins. “Good. How was studying?”

“Okay. Just a lot to memorize. The practical part I feel okay with. It’s all the damn terminology. Got to admit…I usually zoned out when you all started talking with words I didn’t know.”

Emily laughs. “Regretting that now, eh?”

“Oh, yeah. Big time.”

Emily smiles and brings JJ’s hand to her lips, giving it a gentle kiss. “I’ve always said you should listen and obey me, Jen. Now you know why.”

JJ raises an eyebrow. “Oh, really? ‘Obey’ you? Got a bit of a complex going there, hot stuff?”

“Maybe. For instance if I ordered you to kiss me, what would you do?”

JJ smiles, her eyes darkening. “I’d probably listen.”

Emily moves her hands to JJ’s hips. “And if I ordered you to lose the top and bra?”

JJ swallows, pulling both off her body. “I’d most likely respond like that.”

Emily leans forward and closes her mouth around one hard nipple. JJ moans. Emily slides her tongue through the valley between her wife’s breasts and sucks in the other nipple. JJ wraps her hands in Emily’s hair.

“Oh, Em…”

Emily pulls her mouth away and looks up. “If I ordered you to bed so I can make you scream my name—”

“Order me, baby. Please, order me,” JJ says, pulling Emily up.

Emily pulls JJ’s hips hard against her as their mouths crash together. JJ slips the tee shirt Emily wears up and off, her hands quickly undoing the bra and sliding it to the floor. Emily thrusts against her wife, her hands pulling JJ to meet each thrust.

“Oh, fuck, Em, yes,” JJ moans.

“Need you so bad, Jen,” Emily husks out. “So fucking bad.”

She drops to her knees, pulling JJ’s sweats to the ground as she goes. Her hands grasp JJ’s ass and pulls her forward as she buries her mouth between JJ’s legs. JJ leans back against the desk, using it for balance as she offers herself to her wife.

“Yes, Em, oh, yes.”

When JJ is close, Emily stands, shrugging off her sleep pants. She lifts JJ up onto the desk, thrusting two fingers into her as their mouths collide once more. JJ meets every push of Emily’s hand; her own hands clutched around the brunette’s neck. Her legs twist around Em’s hips, her ankles locking behind to help pull Emily even closer.

Emily’s free hand twists and tugs one of JJ’s perfect nipples as their tongues continue to wrestle. Once again, just as JJ is ready to explode, Emily stops. She pulls JJ off the desk and drags her to the bed. She pushes JJ down and climbs up on top of her…backwards.

“Oh, yes, Em!” JJ moans as the dark curls approach her mouth.

Emily moans as JJ’s tongue caresses her hot, throbbing center. JJ grabs Emily’s hips and positions her just right, her mouth and tongue able to torture clit and folds equally. Emily rides her wife’s face for a moment before returning to the glistening golden curls below her. JJ moans again at the renewed contact.

As they start to work on each other, their mouths synchronize. Their clits swelling, throbbing, ready to explode. And then, as if scripted, they both shove two fingers into each other. Riding mouths and fingers in time with each other, they orgasm together, their mouths eagerly lapping the essence of their love.

After a few moments, Emily rolls off to the side. She strokes a hand over JJ’s stomach. “I love you, Jen,” she says, panting.

“Mmmm…love you, too, Emily,” JJ says, equally breathless.

Emily stares at the ceiling. She knows they need sleep. She knows her wife needs it not only for the case but because of the upcoming test. But Emily’s hormones are raging. All she wants is to take her wife and be taken by her wife over and over again.

JJ sits up and moves so that she lies on top of her wife. “Don’t fight it, babe,” she says as if she has read Emily’s mind. “I know you need more.” She leans down and kisses Emily. Emily moans. “I know that was just a tip of the iceberg for you.” She kisses along Emily’s jaw. “You need more.” She sucks in an earlobe as her hand dives into the warm, wetness between Emily’s legs. “Your body is thrumming with sexual tension.” She shifts down and captures a nipple in her mouth. “And I’m here to make sure that tension is eased.”

Emily’s hips arch as JJ starts to thrust into her once more. The blonde’s mouth moves back and forth between the rosy, hard nipples on Emily’s chest. The brunette can only groan, her ability to speak stolen from her. JJ uses her thigh to pump harder, deeper, adding a third finger, feeling Emily’s muscles clamp around them.

“You feel so good, baby,” she moans.

Emily just whimpers, her hips speeding up; JJ’s hand meeting the pace. Finally JJ sees the scream coming and slams her mouth into Emily’s to swallow the yell of ecstasy as she comes all over JJ’s hand. JJ comes again just from her wife’s scream.

When Emily can finally open her eyes again she stares into blue ones filled with love and desire.

“I love you, Emily. Anything you need, I am here for you.”

Emily brings a hand up to her wife’s face. “I know. I love you, too, Jen.”

They kiss once more, this time a kiss filled with love, not driven by hormonal lust. Not to either woman’s surprise, Emily is soon ready to go again. JJ smiles down at her.

“I think I’ve created a monster by getting you pregnant.”

Emily smiles. “Complaining?”

“Not a damn bit,” JJ answers as she kisses her wife…starting another round of love making that lasts long into the night.


	12. Chapter 12

Buffy runs her hand down the man’s cold cheek. At some point on the trip north he had died. She frowns. That had never happened before.

“I shouldn’t have hit him. The gods were not happy.” She tilts her head, staring at him. “I’m sorry. It is my fault you aren’t a worthy sacrifice. But you will still serve a purpose.”

She takes a dive knife and slices open his arms and legs. Those his heart doesn’t pump once he hits the water the blood will wash out, letting the sea creatures know a meal is at hand. She may not have a sacrifice for the gods but she can at least feed their servants.

She drags his body to the side and lifts him up and over into the water. Since he is just a gift, she doesn’t wait to see if he is accepted. She turns towards shore. Time to find a boat slip for the night and prepare to go hunting.

In the distance a man puts his binoculars down. “Fred! Dude! I think someone just tossed a body in the water!”

Fred puts down the joint he is smoking. “What, man?”

“I said I just saw someone dump a body! A freaking black boat dumped a body, man! Fucking swear!”

Fred rolls his eyes. “Lay off the ‘shrooms, Spud. They’re turning your brain into…a spud!” He laughs at his own joke about his buddy’s nickname.

Spud rolls his eyes. “Dude, I’m telling you! Let’s go see!”

He gets behind the wheel and starts to boat, turning it in the direction he had seen the body getting tossed in. As he gets closer to the area he slows, using the light of the moon to scan the water.

“Dude, get a flashlight! Help me look!”

Fred takes another toke then gets up. “What the hell,” he acquiesces.

He gets the spotlight out of the storage bench and flashes it over the water. “Dude, there is nothing out---whoa…” he quickly brings his light back to the left.

Both men stare in shock at the body floating on the water. Spud gets the boat a little closer and Fred uses an oar to pull it close. They stare at it a second.

“Dude, pull it up on board,” Spud orders

“No fucking way! You do it!”

“We could call the Coast Guard,” Spud suggests.

Both men turn and look at the drugs they had been doing and then at each other.

“No…no we just let if float and then in the morning when we’re sober we call the Coast Guard,” Fred decides.

Spud nods. “Sure. Okay. Right. Dude…that’s fucking twisted.”

* * *

 

At 7 a.m. Hotch’s phone rings. “Yes, Morgan?”

“Hotch, I just got a call from Lieutenant Danforth. A couple of stoners saw someone dump a body in the Gulf last night. They hooked it and called in the Guard today to pick it up. They said it was a black boat that continued north.”

“Okay. I’ll tell the ME to rush the autopsy. Strange that it’s a full body. It may not even be ours but we’ll work it as if it is.” Hotch stands. “There can’t be many black boats. Or dark ones for that matter. I wonder if that description makes it into tickets?”

“Maybe. Reid and I are on the road already. We should be there by 11:30 at the latest.”

“Good. I’ll call Garcia and get her checking boats that got ticketed for the color of their hull. And we’ll put word out to local marina’s to be watching for dark hulled boats in visitor slips or squatting in resident slips.”

“Okay. See you soon.”

Hotch hangs up and puts in a call to the ME and then another call to Garcia. By the time he is dressed and waiting for the others in the hotel restaurant he has a plan of action for the day.

“Emily, Rossi, get to the police station and check on the status of the media responses and the tip lines. JJ and I are going to visit some marinas to take a look at boats.”

Emily chuckles. “Wow…first you’re showering together now you’re buying a boat. Moving fast there, Hotchner.”

Hotch glares at her with a twinkle in his eye as JJ slaps her wife’s arm.

“As I was saying,” he continues. “Garcia is running a check to see if any ticketed boats had dark hulls. This is our best lead and, sadly, we can’t even be sure it’s a lead for us. We may be investigating an unrelated murder. Let’s make sure the press doesn’t automatically link the boat and this body to our investigation.”

Emily nods. “Right. How about the ‘locals asked us to consult since we’re in the area’ excuse if they pick up on it?”

Hotch nods, glad the new liaison would confirm the half-truth before running with it. “Good one. We can always go back and say the investigation linked them. But if we start out with them linked we’re screwed if they aren’t.”

“Right.” Emily starts to jot some notes down for later.

With their breakfast done, the four agents split up to get back to work on the case. In their SUV, Rossi flicks a glance at Emily.

“Get a good nights sleep, Emily?”

Emily blushes. “Yep. Great night. Why?”

“Because I walked by about 2 and that didn’t sound like sleep,” he says with a chuckle.

Emily blushes brighter. “Oh my God…Rossi…why the hell were you up at 2.”

He grins. “Maybe you’re not the only one that got a good night’s sleep,” he answers smugly.

She gives him a quick look and grin. “Why you dirty old dog.”

“Yep. Book tour connections can be quite…refreshing on a long, hard case.”

Emily just laughs and shakes her head. Rossi enjoys his ladies' man reputation. And from the looks of things, he most likely really did earn it.


	13. Chapter 13

Hotch and JJ show their credentials to the dock master.

“We’re looking for a boat either in public slips or caught squatting in someone else’s slip. Two distinguishing features of this boat are its black hull and the fact that a single, young woman pilots it,” Hotch says without preamble.

The harbor man thinks about it a moment. “Hmm…funny you should say that. A couple days ago I noticed a boat in a friend of mine’s slip. I had planned to confront them but next thing I new it was gone. Hull was as black as night. I remember thinking the owner is probably some freaky badass type, you know?” The agents nod. “Only then I see this really pretty woman come out of the cabin. She was wearing a cute little skirt, a crop top. She looked…good.” He gives an embarrassed grin. “That’s kind of why I didn’t say anything to her about the squatting. From here I could see her if she decided to do any sunbathing or something. Figured my friends were gone for the week. I could move her later.”

“Did you happen to catch the name of the boat?” JJ asks him.

“It was weird. Like a name but not.” He thinks a minute and shakes his head. “No, can’t think of it. If I do I could call you.”

Hotch hands him a card. “That would be good.”

The two agents thank the man and head down to the slip he had indicated. “What are the chances she’ll come back to this marina?” JJ asks.

“Slim to none. Why risk being seen? Especially with such a distinctive boat,” Hotch explains. “Let’s head to the next one.”

At the third one they stop in they find a dock master that didn’t mind giving a ticket to the squatter.

“Saw her this morning. Hard not to notice that boat. She tried to tell me she was subletting but I know the owner. He’s one of those weird OCD-types who would be freaked if anything changed while he was gone. No way he’d let anyone squat in his slip.” He hands Hotch a piece of paper. “Here it is. My copy of the ticket.”

Hotch whips out his cell phone. “Garcia, I need you to run a trace on Melanie ‘Buffy’ Nitodu. Last name is N-I-T-O-D-U. Anything and everything you can find. Check all the states along the Gulf that match up with Emily’s theory.”

“Got it, sir. Anything else?”

“Yes. The name of her boat was Chac, C-H-A-C. Get me what you can on that name.”

“When I know more you’ll know everything. Ciao!”

Meanwhile, JJ had called her favorite nerd. “Em, what would the name ‘Chac’ mean to this unsub?”

“Chac is the Mayan god of rain and thunder,” Emily tells her. “Sounds like it relates to that surfer with the Mayan board.”

“That’s what we think. I thought I remembered that name from your research but wanted to make sure. How’s the media?”

“Oh, just lovely. We’re all going out for tea later.”

“Smart ass. Talk to you later. Love you.”

“Love you, too.”

JJ clicks off just after Hotch. She tells him what Emily told her. He grins. “Sometimes I forget she’s a Yalie. She really did earn her way in, didn’t she?”

JJ chuckles. “You have no idea. She just hides it better than Reid but there are times I see her wanting to spout off like he does. And the times it happens she gets all embarrassed. It’s cute as hell.”

“I’d agree but you might shoot me,” Hotch says with a grin.

The two head for the next marina. As they pull in the both see the boat at the same time.

“Holy shit,” JJ murmurs. “What do we do?”

“Walk past it, take a look at it, if someone is on board try to talk to them. Right now we have nothing to get us a warrant.”

JJ nods and they head down towards it. They act as if they are simply looking at the pretty boats all in rows. They walk down the path between it and the boat beside it. JJ glances at the back of it and nods.

“Chac,” she confirms.

Hotch squats down on the pier, staring at the front of the boat. He leans as close as he can without touching it.

“JJ…there’s blood here.”

JJ walks up and sees what he’s looking at. Though some has been washed away by the sea water there is still enough left to show where it has been smeared along the front. JJ pulls out her phone again.

“Em, why would she smear blood on the front of her boat?”

Emily thinks a minute. She had always loved mythology and this was striking a chord for her. “Not Mayan...,” she mumbles. “Not Greek…Not Egyptian…NORSE!” she shouts. “Vikings would sacrifice their enemies and smear their blood on the front of their new boats to protect them at sea.”

“Perfect. Thanks, baby.” JJ hangs up and tells Hotch.

“So, she kills them for the Mayan gods but asks protection from the Norse gods? Strange,” he says.

“Not really. Maybe she subscribes to several different multi-deity religions. Maybe she just pulls pieces from different ones that suit her psychosis.”

Hotch smiles. “Very good.”

JJ stares at him. “Were you just testing me?”

He chuckles. “Yep. Still have to write a last evaluation on you. Want to make sure I won’t regret it,” he winks.

JJ chuckles. “Gee, thanks for the boost to my ego.”

They return to the dock master’s office and ask that he call them if the owner of the boat returns. Feeling they are closing in on their unsub, the two head to the morgue to check on the latest victim.

* * *

 

From a bench at the end of the neighboring dock, Buffy had watched the two people looking over her boat. With her baseball cap pulled low and her blonde hair pulled back in pony tail she looked like any other person out for a day on the water. But she is hunting. As they leave the dock master’s office, she follows them to the parking lot, noting the Tahoe they climb into.

Or rather…she notices Hotch. JJ is just an annoyance to be ignored. But Hotch is a strong, handsome man. He would make the perfect sacrifice. And his power would ensure her forgiveness for the mistake she had made with the last sacrifice.

She moves to the car she had stolen earlier. She knows it’s risky to drive it twice but she has to follow him. She had to make sure she can take him when the time is right.


	14. Chapter 14

Hotch and JJ walk into a room that looks like a prop room for a horror film. They both take uneasy breaths as the stench is beyond awful.

“Doc, what have you got?” Hotch asks the ME.

“Well, this latest victim died of a combination of blunt force trauma and a ketamine reaction. I think he may have been alive for a couple hours but slowly dying. His throat swelled closed due to anaphylaxis. He suffocated.”

“Horrible way to die,” JJ whispers with disgust.

“Yes, very. If he was lucky, he was still out while it happened.”

“What about the trauma? What caused it?” Hotch asks.

“The rounded end of a heavy object.” He points to an area on the man’s skull. “He was hit hard enough it left a semi-circle indentation not only in the skin but,” he rolls back a flap of scalp, “also on the bone of the skull. He was hit violently hard.”

JJ lets out a slow breath. “Any idea with what?”

“Nope. But you find me something that could be the weapon and I can match it to this wound,” he says confidently.

Just then one of his assistants comes in. “Um, Dr. Goran, we have a missing persons flyer from Port Aransas. I think this is the guy they’re looking for.”

Hotch and JJ exchange a look. “Dr. Goran, flag this case as connected.”

“You got it. I’ll call you if I find out anything more.”

The agents nod and quickly leave the death chamber. Outside they want some fresh air before getting back in the Tahoe. They pace a bit on the sidewalk.

“So she took him down there and brought him here. Why?” Hotch ponders.

JJ shrugs. “Maybe…maybe he gave her a ride from the beach? She had two boards and her backpack but she got away pretty damn quickly. If that was her car the cops had found she would have needed to find a quick way out of the area.”

“True. So he helps her back to the boat. Maybe under the pretenses of a special thank you or just because he’s a nice guy. And she hits him with something.”

“If she had to hit him I doubt there was a promise of sex,” JJ observes.

“Good point. I think it’s safe to say his death was not planned. She didn’t dismember him so it’s key to her psychosis that they be alive when she starts to dismember them.”

“Hotch, if they know where he disappeared from maybe Garcia can check traffic cams or even marina cams to see if we see the unsub.”

He nods. “Good point. Call her.”

JJ nods and pulls out her phone. She frowns a second then starts to dial. “Shit. Had to think about her number for a minute. I’m so used to just hitting the memory buttons.”

Hotch chuckles. “As many phones as we go through we should have everyone’s number memorized.”

JJ grins. “Garcia, hey. We need you to check out a missing person notice for Port Aransas. The guy is in the morgue here in Galveston and there’s a good chance he got here by the unsub.”

“Okay. How do I find him?”

“Start by checking the beach area where we were yesterday. If it’s who we think it is, she needed a ride and he may have been it. If it is, follow them using traffic cams and anything else to whatever marina she was using. We need her picture, Garcia.”

“Well, I’ve got that. So does Emily.”

“What? When? How?”

“If she used her real name, I sent her DMV photo from Mississippi to Emster about an hour ago.”

“Son of a…and why didn’t you send it to us?” JJ asks with irritation.

Garcia sounds flustered as she types rapidly. “Uh…well…shit…sorry, Jayje. I’ve got a billion things going on and---HA! I did send it to you! I sent it to everyone,” she says triumphantly.

“Hotch, check your phone. Garcia sent us the unsubs pic.”

Hotch looks at his phone. “Didn’t get it. You?”

JJ glances at her screen. “Shit. No. Pen, sorry I’m jumped your ass. I should have known better. Can you please resend it? For some reason neither Hotch nor I got it.”

“Alrighty. Coming at you now. And I’ll start checking cameras for her and the dead guy. I’ll hit you back when I have something.”

“Thanks, Garcia.”

“Let’s go back to the marina. I want to sit on that boat until—” Hotch stops as his phone alerts him to a new text. It’s the unsub. “Good. Let’s go show this around. Get the others down there, too. Someone saw her. We need to stop her. Let’s go.”

* * *

 

Buffy watches as they climb in the Tahoe. She climbs into a new car she had prepped to steal and follows them.

“Back to the marina. Good. Won’t have far to move you, sacrifice. Just have to get rid of the bimbo.”

Twenty minutes later the team is meeting in the parking lot.

“Okay, if this is her, we need to find a reason to get on her boat. I’ve talked to the dock master and local police. Slip squatting isn’t probable cause.”

“What about the blood on the boat?” JJ asks.

Hotch shakes his head. “It’s not uncommon on fishing vessels to see blood on them. Again, unless we know it’s human there’s no probable cause.”

“Shit. Why not let Reid and I go take a casual look at the boat. Maybe the boy wonder or this old fart will see something that will help us find cause,” Rossi suggests.

“Okay. But if she’s on board, keep on walking. We can’t risk tipping our hand.”

Rossi nods as he and Reid head off. Along the way to the boat they stop to ask several people if they had seen Buffy. Finally one man nods.

“Hey, yeah, I just saw her.” He points back towards a row of shops nearby. “She was in the ice cream shop having a shake. She was   _smokin_ ’!”

“She’s a smoker?” Reid asks.

Rossi rolls his eyes. “How the hell have you managed to keep a girlfriend, kid?”

Reid just looks confused as Rossi pulls out his phone. “Hotch, she may have been spotted in the ice cream shop down the way. Reid and I are going to check it out. After that we’ll head back to her boat.”

“Right. We’ll let you know if she shows up here.” He hangs up and looks at his agents. “Morgan, Prentiss, stay up here in the parking lot. Let us know if you see her. JJ, let’s go show her picture around some more.”

“Sounds good,” JJ agrees. No one likes just waiting, doing nothing.

Morgan and Prentiss separate a little to try to see as much of the lot as possible. JJ and Hotch had been talking to people for about 5 minutes. They finally get to the very end of the docks. JJ sighs.

“I hate when we feel so close and yet so far.”

“Me, too,” Hotch agrees. Just then his phone rings. “Dave, did you find her?”

“False alarm. Looks like her but it wasn’t.”

“Okay.” JJ points to a couple of guys down the very last pier. Hotch nods as she goes to talk to them. “Dave, get back up this way and see if you and Reid can—UNGH!”

Pain shoots through Hotch’s neck, followed by the complete absence of pain as he falls towards to the deck.

“You’ll be the best one yet,” Buffy states as she looks down at her newest victim.


	15. Chapter 15

JJ finishes talking to the two men who had just returned from a day fishing and had seen nothing. She gets back to where she left Hotch but he is gone. As she is trying to find him, assuming he had seen someone to question her phone rings.

“Yeah, Rossi?”

“Where’s Hotch?” he asks fearfully.

“Uh, around here somewhere. He was talking to you so I went to see a couple of—”

“He was attacked! She has him, JJ. Look for him!”

“SHIT!” JJ spins around. He’s no where to be seen. Neither is a woman who could be the unsub. “Shit, shit, shit.” She rushes to the shore side of the pier and her heart leaps into her throat. “I see his phone and gun. Going off the side of the pier. HURRY!”

She leaps to the ground. She stares under the boardwalk but it is a maze of pillars. She looks at the ground and sees drag marks. Buffy is dragging Hotch under the pier back to her boat. She relays what’s going on to Rossi and snaps the phone closed. Putting Hotch’s gun in the back of her pants she pulls her own gun and starts off under the docks.

* * *

 

“Hey, Rossi,” Morgan says as he answers his phone.

“Buffy has Hotch! Looks like she’s dragging him to her boat by going under the docks. JJ is following them. We’re a good 5 minutes away.”

“Shit! Okay, Prentiss and I will get down there. Hurry!” He turns. “EMILY!”

She jogs over. “What’s wrong?”

“Bitch has Hotch. JJ is following them under the pier.”

“ _Under_  the pier? She can only take him so far before they have to come up. Let’s go!”

They hurry down the steps, Emily quickly leaving Morgan and his crutch behind. JJ’s voice reaches her ear and she races towards the sound. She gets to a place where the pier has a small opening to the shore. What she sees causes her to stop…and stare.

* * *

 

JJ is able to move faster than her prey. Finally she sees Buffy dragging Hotch. They are nearly to the pier where Buffy’s boat is docked. The woman will either have to take Hotch out into the water or somehow get him up on the boards. JJ worries if they opt for the water the obviously paralyzed Hotch could drown. She angles towards the water to take away that option.

“MELANIE NITODU! FBI! Release him and put your hands in the air!”

The crazed woman glares at JJ. “NO! YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND! I HAVE TO PLEASE THEM!”

“I do understand.” She slowly keeps walking towards her foe. “You have to make a live, human sacrifice to the gods. That’s why the man you brought up from Port Aransas wasn’t cut up. He was already dead. He wasn’t…wasn’t worthy.”

Buffy nods, amazed this woman understands. “Right! So you see why I have to have him!” She looks adoringly at Hotch. “He will make them so happy. Look at his power, his strength.”

The more Buffy talks, the closer JJ walks. Finally she puts her gun away. “I know. He’s very powerful. He dropped a major source of his power back where you found him. Would you like it? The gods will love it.”

Buffy smiles. “Yes! Please! I thought you were just an annoyance. I was going to kill you if you hadn’t walked away. Guess I got lucky.”

JJ raises an eyebrow. “Yeah. Lucky you,” she agrees sarcastically.

JJ steps to the right of Buffy, making the woman step away from Hotch to get whatever it was he lost. She holds out her hand…and JJ slaps a cuff onto it.

“NOOOO! YOU BITCH!”

The two women start to wrestle. JJ has skills. Buffy has madness. JJ’s main concern is to get away from Hotch and out from under the pier so her team can find them. She drives Buffy backwards like a defensive back driving an offensive lineman towards the quarterback. As they clear the dock, Buffy’s foot hits a discarded buoy and she falls backwards into a small tidal pool. JJ falls on top of her.

“BITCH!” Buffy screams, scratching at JJ’s face.

She misses the agent’s face but gets a hold of her blouse, ripping the buttons off. JJ tries to get a hold of the hand on her shirt.

“STOP FIGHTING, DAMN IT!” she yells and takes the woman down once more.

Their legs tangle together as each woman tries to get a grip on the other. In a hockey move, JJ grabs the bottom of Buffy’s shirt and pulls it up over her head, making it hard for her to use her arms. JJ uses the woman’s frustration to spin around her and get on her back.

As Buffy shrugs out of the shirt, JJ manages to get a hold of the cuffed wrist and twist it up behind her back. As Buffy flails again JJ catches the other arm and snaps the other cuff on. She jumps off the crazed woman scoots away from her, fighting now to catch her breath.

Up on the pier, Emily and, eventually, Morgan had watched what amounted to a mud wrestling match won by JJ. Emily looks at Morgan.

“Is it just me and my raging hormones or was that hot as shit?”

Morgan shakes his head. “Wasn’t the hormones.”

“Right. Damn.”

She eases down onto the ground and hurries under the pier. Morgan can already hear the ambulance Rossi had called for screaming into the marina. He yells at a nearby fisherman to run up and direct the EMT’s

Emily gets to Hotch and sees recognition in his eyes. She checks his pulse and finds it steady.

“Hang on, Hotch. Ambulance is nearly here. You’re going to be just fine.”

She looks back towards JJ who has now been joined by Rossi and Reid. The two men drag Buffy to her feet. The woman is still screaming about sacrificing Hotch to the gods. Rossi ratchets her cuffs a little tighter.

JJ stands on wobbly legs and walks over to Hotch and Emily. She looks down at her boss.

“I am so sorry, Hotch. So fucking sorry,” she apologizes.

Emily reaches out a hand to her. “Not your fault, Jen. He knows that. You were doing your job. So was he. Only one to blame here is that psycho surfer.”

JJ just nods. But she won’t really feel better until Hotch can tell her that himself. The two agents move out of the way as the EMT’s bring in a backboard and their gear to get Hotch stabilized and transported to the hospital. Emily takes JJ’s hand.

“Come on, baby. Let’s get you back to the hotel to change. We’ll meet the others at the hospital.”

JJ just nods, too tired to even try to speak.


	16. Chapter 16

“Agent Hotchner?”

The team stands as a doctor walks into the waiting room, announcing their leader’s name. He smiles at them.

“He’ll be fine. We’re going to keep him overnight as a precautionary measure but he should be okay to leave in the morning unless something happens overnight.”

“Oh, thank God,” JJ whispers.

“Can we see him?” Rossi asks.

“Sure. Just one at a time. Let him get some rest.”

“Thank you, Doctor,” Rossi tells him. He looks at JJ. “My guess is you want to see him first?”

“Do you all mind?” she asks.

“Go for it, Jayje,” Reid tells her.

JJ nods and heads back to her mentor’s room. She forces a smile to her face as she walks in.

“Uh, hi.”

He smiles at her, his eyes weary. “Not your fault. Don’t even think it,” he says immediately.

She chuckles. “Who said I was feeling guilty? Maybe I’m pissed at you for getting nabbed.”

He grins. “Right.”

She steps closer and takes his hand. “I really am sorry, Hotch.”

“JJ, you found me. You got her away from me. From the scratch on your face and the sounds I could hear I’d guess you wrestled with a sociopath on a psychotic break. There’s not a damn thing to be sorry about. Nice job, Agent.”

She smiles, squeezing his hand. “Thank you. I really needed to hear that.”

“Good. Now, I’m ordering you back to the hotel to study. You’ve got a test to pass on Saturday. I’ll never forgive you if you fail and make me have to hire someone.”

She chuckles. “I know. You’ve already warned me once. I won’t forget. Promise.” She leans over and gives him a motherly kiss on the cheek. “Feel better, Hotch. See you tomorrow.”

He just nods as she heads out to the others. She is not surprised when the guys ignore the one visitor rule and all head back there. She looks at Emily questioningly.

“You’re not going back?”

She shrugs. “I’ll see him tomorrow. I’ve been told to take you back to the hotel and make you study. Seems no one wants to break in a new team member.”

JJ smiles proudly. “Good. Because I really don’t want to break in a new team. I’ve just gotten you all trained up so nicely.”

Emily nods and takes her wife’s hand. “Let’s go, profiler-in-training. Study well and maybe I’ll help you work off some nervous energy before bed.”

“Mmmm…I like the sound of that.”

“I bet you do, Mrs. Prentiss. I bet you do.”

The two women head out, happy that the unsub is now a suspect being charged in multiple states for multiple murders. And even happier that her final sacrifice had not been Aaron Hotchner.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: If you are worried Will and Morgan got off too easily, no worries...more to come on those two, soon. 
> 
> Also this story was inspired by a surfer friend of mine. Well, not that she dismembers guys or anything. Just has symbol-like tattoos and surfs. So...you know...not the killer part. Probably. I hope. :o)


End file.
